Sugarplum
by VesperChan
Summary: "They will use you up, and love you all the while, until there is nothing left of the girl you used to be." Sakura had been a chosen one, once upon a time, but that was years ago, and all the magic has left her. Still, the world calls her back and she has a new role in supporting the next girl savior many years her junior. ItaSakuSaso
1. Chapter 1

Sugarplum

* * *

It wasn't dark when the junior ballet classes next door ended, but by the time Sakura had showered, changed, and packed to go home it was plenty dark and lonely outside the gym. All the girls had been picked up except one and it made her groan in agitation to see who.

"Cousin picking you up, Hamburger?" Sakura called out, tone teasing.

Hanabi looked up from her phone and glared. "That's _not_ my name."

Sakura chuckled and then dropped her bags down on the opposite end of the bench before plopping down beside the younger girl. She caught sight of Hanbi's glare and Sakura felt her lips curl at the ends.

"How is Milkshake these days?"

The younger girl huffed and turned her face purposefully away from the boxer. "My name is _Hanabi_ , use it. Hinata's name is not milkshake, so quit calling her that. God, you've known us for years."

"Ah, honey you know I only give nicknames to the people I like."

"You call Neji jackass."

"I said I give _nicknames_. Jackass is just a reminder of his personality. Plus, it rolls off the tongue easier than ass stick."

The first signs of good humor flickered in the young girl's eyes, but Hanabi was a Hyuga and Hyuga were known to be perfect, prim, and proper. Snickering at foul language wasn't a Hyuga trait, even if it was hilariously accurate.

"Have you gotten any communication from home?" Sakura asked in a more leveled tone that lacked the teasing tilt of words from earlier.

Hanabi looked back down at her phone and clicked open the message icon. "Yeah. Neji said he was on his way."

"When was that?"

Hanabi hesitated, but clicked off her phone and looked away. "Six minutes ago."

"Ballet class ended half an hour ago. What was his excuse twenty five minutes ago?" Sakura looked back over her shoulder at the glass to the dance room. "Not even the teacher is still here."

"He's been busy, not that you would understand anything about that." Hanabi coughed and drew her jacket tighter around her. "He'll be here when he can."

Sakura unwrapped her scarf and tossed it at the kid without explanation. Hanabi looked up, startled and started to say something, but shut her mouth when she saw Sakura plugging her earbuds in and leaning back into the bench seat, arms crossed and leg bouncing to the beat of her secret song.

This hadn't been the first time Neji had been painfully late to picking up the younger Hyuga girl, and Sakura doubted it would be the last time. She wouldn't admit to it, but the fact that her cousin didn't seem to care about what happened to her made Sakura steam. Sure, the gym wasn't a hole in the wall joint, and membership was pricey if you didn't teach classes on the weekend, but it was still a semi public place with strangers coming and going all hours of the day. Hanabi was only thirteen, after all.

When it had been Hinata and Sakura taking ballet classes together in grade school Neji was never late, but that was years ago and Hinata wasn't Hanabi.

Five minutes later Hanabi's dangling leg bumped Sakura's. She peaked one eye open and then sat up when she saw Hanabi pointing to her earbuds.

"What are you listening to? It's too loud and I can hear it."

"My music isn't too loud, it's this place that's too quiet. Here, take one."

Sakura offered one of the buds to Hanabi and the girl glared at the offer. Sakura rolled her eyes and pulled out a tissue to wipe it down before offering it again. Hanabi took it tentatively and held it close to her ear, but didn't insert it. A few seconds later her head started to sway and then bop.

After another track of The Red Hot Chili Peppers Hanabi was comfortable enough putting the bud in her ear and leaning against Sakura's side. The proper shell all Hyuga girls were forced to wear started to melt with shared music and thick knit scarves.

When the lead vocalist was singing about snow and a white world where where all the tracks will be concealed and there's nowhere to go Sakura noticed the new arrival to the parking lot. She paused the music and tugged her earbud back from Hanabi who protested at the loss until she Saw Neji walking up to the door.

"Jackass is here."

"I thought you said he was ass stick."

Sakura couldn't help but snicker. "Yeah, that one. Get up and go to him or he'll get pissed at having to come all the way in here to pick you up like a child or whatever it is he says when he's stupid and mean." Sakura didn't mention anything about Hanabi really being a child because she knew how the girl would take it.

Hyuga girls grew up too fast.

Sakura packed up again and started to walk away in the opposite direction, since she parked in the back.

"Your scarf!" Hanabi called out.

Sakura waved over her shoulder. "Keep it, Hamburger."

Sakura went back to her empty apartment with the laundry dangerously piling at the end of her bed and a fridge more empty than her bank account. She had meant to pick something up on the way home, but was more tired than she was hungry, so she went to bed after brushing her teeth with the idea that she would do better tomorrow.

She didn't.

* * *

"You have a pet rat."

Sakura snorted. "No I don't. I told you it's a mouse and he's not my pet. He just comes out when I do my laundry and I feed him now and then."

"That's practically the definition of a pet. You're giving him food and shelter in exchange for artificial affection."

Sakura pretended to be hurt by the younger girl's words. "Nothing about Napoleon's affections is artificial. And in addition to that point, let me remind you that he lives in the laundry room. That's not me providing him shelter, ha!"

"You really should be shaking your head or talking to me like that, not after you just admitted to going down there to feed him when you don't even have laundry. Also, I thought you're supposed to report pets to the landowners. You're sheltering a fugitive of the law."

Sakura couldn't help but smile, even if it was at her expense. "Napoleon and I can be fugitives of the law together if that's how it's gotta be. I can dye my hair and go into hiding."

Hanabi raised a critical brown in apparition of Sakura's hair. "You'll have to. Who has pastel pink hair?"

 _Depressed people._

"People who love themselves and are made out of sunshines and rainbows and gumdrops. Plus, it's natural, don't you know anything about me yet?"

Hanabi pretended to give up and stare out the glass windows across the lobby once more. "Whatever."

Sakura reached over and tugged at the familiar thick knit scarf that was undeniably the cheapest thing she wore. Everything else was designer, except for a simple second hand accessory.

"I'm not giving it back if that's what you want," Hanabi grumbled.

"Nah, I just thought it was cute you kept it. Has it been keeping you warm? It's not the most fancy material so I get it if it's not up to par." Sakura let her hand drop back to her side. "You don't have to force yourself to wear it if you don't like it."

For a while the girls sat in a comfortable silence that didn't need to be interrupted. The sky outside was dull and growing darker behind the choke of thick clouds. It was cold enough that Sakura thought she could smell snow in the air. It was finally December, after all. Christmas carols had been blasting since before Thanksgiving and Sakura had only recently started noticing them.

"What are you working on in ballet now?" Sakura asked, watching as the last ballerina emerged from the locker room to head home on her own.

"You can't hear the Nutcracker Suite through the walls?" Hanabi asked with an edge of sarcasm.

"That you?"

Hanabi nodded. "I'm nothing special though, just a flower. Hinata was the lead dew drop fairy when she was my age."

Sakura winced at the hurt tone. "That's not true. When Hinata was thirteen she was an angel and she didn't get the role of the dew drop fairy until she was sixteen, almost seventeen."

"I don't think so," Hanabi said.

"No, I'm right because I was there. Like most of the other thirteen year olds, she was a doll at fourteen because she could memorize positions well, and then at fifteen she was a snowflake because she had great stamina compared to some of the other girls, which your father was oh so proud about. She was sixteen when she was the dew drop fairy. I don't know what you hear at home, but I don't think you're anything less than your sister."

Hanabi's expression had melted from something akin to depressed into one more closely resembling a glower. "Oh, I've heard plenty at home. You know she was _Clara_ when she was seventeen, the last year she was with the junior group. It's all dad's been saying since I started with the same group. He wanted me to do better, but now…now he's just pacified if I'm only as good as her."

"Your sister is your sister and you are you. Do you enjoy dancing?"

Hanabi's glower lessened. "Yeah."

"That should really be all that matters."

The younger girl rolled her eyes. "You make it sound so ideal. It's not as easy as you say." Hanabi pulled at the collar of her shirt from under the scarf. "But, there's only two more weeks left and then I can worry about my roles for next year."

"Are you going to stay with the junior ballet group during the spring and summer seasons?" Sakura asked. She reached for her phone and flipped through the musical collection until she found something she thought Hanabi might be more receptive to.

Hanabi shrugged, clearly done with the conversation.

Saying nothing, Sakura offered the girl an earbud and let Paramore play. The music was old enough and angry enough to be appropriate. The girls sat together in silence for another two songs before Hanabi sagged against Sakura's side.

Neji showed up before they could get halfway through the Riot album and, like the last few times, Sakura left the back way and avoided running into the Hyuga she always thought of as a jackass.

When she got home that night she felt an unusual tug in her heart that wouldn't abate until she pushed back her things in the closet and drew out the old plastic coat protector. She laid it out on the couch an unzipped it down the front, peeling back the layers to gaze upon the expensive costume that had soaked up a childhood's worth of tears **six** years ago. There was still flecks of gold glitter caught in the folds and creased from when her hair had been painted with it.

Sakura tugged it out of the plastic and held it up to the light. It was still breathtaking in a painful way as she turned the Sugarplum Fairy costume this way and that. Sakura had never felt more magical than when she danced alone on that stage under all those lights in pastel pink tuule and golden sequins. She had thought it would have been enough, that she would be able to go back if she was perfect and had all the magic of that moment, but the melody finished, and the audience cheered her off stage and into the wings where no one could see her cry for a thing they couldn't understand.

"It was a stupid dream," Sakura whispered to the costume. "It didn't really happen."

Sakura slipped the dress back into the protective plastic and zipped it back up with fond fingers. She was careful to make sure it didn't wrinkle as she pushed it back into the darkest part of her closet, out of sight and out of mind once more.

Somewhere outside a neighbor was playing Christmas music so she turned on her phone speaker and let Fall Out Boy play to drown out the sound of an old man dreaming about a white Christmas.

Sakura did not sleep well that night, nor did she dream of sugarplums and candy canes. All she dreamed about was plague and destruction and another long and lonely winter where red eyed rats nibbled on what was left in the aftermath of something terrible.

 _'Your brain has a hole that you fill with the worst ideas because you don't believe in anything good anymore, Sakura.'_

* * *

On Saturday Sakura taught several morning classes and would be finished by noon. She still had another half hour to go but, as luck would have it, she had to ask a different girl to cover for her while she got sick in the bathroom from what she could only assume to be bad Chinese food.

That's how Hanabi found her.

"Are you…okay?"

Sakura glared up over her shoulder before jerking and ducking her face back into the bowl as more of her dinner came back up. She absently marveled at how long she had been able to ignore the pain in her stomach before it became a puking problem. She hoped it would all be over soon.

"I guess that's a no." Hanabi shifted awkwardly in the bathroom, biting her lip and looking to the door. "You need me to get someone? Maybe some ibuprofen?"

"Food poisoning, babe. Pain killers ain't gonna do the trick this time," Sakura laughed, swaying back and forth before heaving up what she could of the bile left in her throat.

"Ew," Hanabi whined, jumping from foot to foot. "How did you do that?"

Sakura pulled some toilet paper off the roll and wiped her mouth before flushing that down the toilet, ignoring the way Hanabi looked ready to gag at the though of touching some like 'toiler paper' to her lips. She was such a princess and it made Sakura smile in spite of the pinch in her stomach. Hanabi was too cute to ignore teasing.

"It's nothing you need to worry yourself over. I'm sure you're eating much better than I am, anyway." Sakura stood, pushing up and off the wall like it was too much to stand with just her leg's strength. She wobbled a little but felt much better after having already thrown up. "What are you doing back here anyway? I thought the other end of the gym had the nice bathrooms."

"They're nicer but they're further away. Besides…um, you're teaching people today so I thought I might see you if I went this way."

Sakura had cupped some water into her mouth and was spitting it out into the sink but paused. Hanabi's face was lightly dusted with pink and the kid fidgeted almost as much as her sister even though she glared hotly when she caught Sakura staring.

"You're sweet. Thanks for worrying, but I'm fine. I need to get back out there, Tenten is covering for me but I have a class so I can't leave them alone for long. You have practice late today?" Sakura asked.

Hanabi nodded and turned to follow Sakura out as the older girl exited. "Not really. We've been here since seven thirty. After this the only ones who need to stay are the ones with main roles. Hinata said she would pick me up today so I don't have to wait for Neji."

Sakura laughed, holding open the door so Hanabi could exit ahead of her. "That's good to hear. Milkshake always was better about those sort of things than your cousin. If I see her I'll stick around to say hello. I'm going now, see you around, Hamburger."

Sakura snickered to herself as she jogged back over to the room with her class in session. Behind her she could hear Hanabi huff in agitation and retort with a snappish 'It's Hanabi!'

Sakura finished up her class and made her way through the sea of ladies desperate to stay in shape for any mess of reasons, from self betterment to a worthless husband to a friend's wedding in the Bahamas. Sakura had been told on numerous occasions that she was a bit too biter to be believed, but Sakura laughed it off and tried her best to make it into a joke. Most people bought it, others knew her a little too well to be deceived.

"Hey."

Sakura jumped but turned on her heel to see Tenten there. Like Sakura, Tenten wore a low cut crop top tee shirt with the gym's logo colored across the front. Unlike Sakura, she hated the uniform shirt with a passion and wore a darker cami underneath it.

"Yo, thanks for covering for me today. I'll make it up to you later, promise," Sakura laughed, feeling silly for being jumpy in the gym of all places. She felt more at home with a punching bag than a bed most days.

"Yeah, you seem fine now, but are you sure you're okay. You were pretty white there," the older girl asked, staring keenly at the marks of exhaustion around Sakura's eyes. Sakura hadn't bothered to try and cover up the bags under her eyes or explain them away. Normally no one cared or took notice. She forgot about Tenten.

"I'm feeling better since throwing up. I'm pretty sure it was food poisoning. I had some funky Chinese food last night, and it was good, like, really good," Sakura said with a wave of her hands for emphasis, "but I think it must have been bad if it made me sick like that. Sorry you had to cover for me. I swear I'll make it up to you."

"Whatever, forget about it. You were gone less than ten minutes. That's not worth even thinking twice about. Take care of yourself a bit better next time." Tenten gestured to the door. "Go home and rest for once, kay?"

Sakura blew an exaggerated kiss as she walked backwards, out of the room with her bag already over her shoulder. "Babe, I love you, thank you!"

Tenten groaned at Sakura's childish voice and theatrics, but blushed all the same. "Just get out you weirdo. Geez."

Sakura turned and left the room for the hallway where she knew all the junior ballet dancers gathered to practice together. She had taken only a handful of steps before she felt another pull in her gut that made her brace against the wall. It wasn't food poisoning that made her waver on her feet, but there was something wrong with the pit of her, the core of her was unsettled.

"Hanabi?" Sakura breathed. She looked up and saw through the glass window Hanabi alone in the room, practicing positions on the bar. There was no reason or logic behind it, but Sakura felt something odd and _wrongwrongwrong_ about the young girl.

Sakura forced herself to move and pushed the door the rest of the way open. Hanabi looked up and glared, upset about having been interrupted, but the glare faltered when she saw Sakura bunched over and hobbling into the room.

"You okay? You said you were fine when I last saw you in the bathroom." Hanabi broke out of her position and started to jog over to Sakura.

Like a light switch the pinching pull was gone from her gut and Sakura felt fine. She blinked and straightened, running a hand through her hair and making a show of being fine. "What do you mean? I'm all good."

Hanabi glared. "You did that on purpose."

Her expression made Sakura laugh. "Don't blame me for wanting to tease you a little. It's so nice to know you care."

"I _don't_ care. Jeez, leave me alone. I can wait for Hinata on my own."

Sakura dropped her bag onto the floor under the bar and sat down, stretching her legs out in front of her. "Well of course you can, but isn't it more lonely to do it that way? Don't mind me, I'm just resting over here and I'll be so quiet you won't be able to tell me apart from a mouse. Honest!"

Hanabi huffed but went back to the bar and began to position herself with the mirror as her guide. Like her sister before her, she was a dutiful practitioner of the basics. With her strong foundation, Hanai built her dance with moves memorized in muscle and sinew.

 _'There's something wrong with her.'_

The thought hit Sakura like a bolt from the blue, making her bones tingle in the aftershock. She didn't know where it came from any more than she knew it was true. Something was off about Hanabi and it showed in the listless way she fell into a well worn pattern of steps. There was something lacking in her movements and Sakura recognized that missing piece as 'spirit' or 'soul' or the Pathos of Dance. Hanabi was idle in her steps.

"Are you okay, Hanabi?"

The called upon girl stumbled and grabbed for the bar to steady herself. She looked back over her shoulder and her eyes were almost narrowed enough to be a glare, but the edge wasn't there.

"What are you doing calling me by my name?" She huffed angrily and turned around to face Sakura. "You're the one who was sick and you're the one who said she would shut up while I practiced. Quiet as a mouse, remember?"

Sakura hid behind a sly smile and shrugged her shoulders. "Mice really aren't that quiet, in my defense."

"Don't-just don't bother me okay. I'm fine. Quit looking at me like that."

Hanabi shook her head and turned back around, but there was a hike in her shoulders that needed to be smoothed out before she could raise her hands into the correct position. She tried and then groaned before attempting it again.

Sakura watched, head heavy, as Hanabi did her best. It wasn't perfect, and at first it was a little stiff, but then a bit of her spirit slipped free and Sakura almost froze when she saw the change take over Hanabi. The young girl seemed to melt away from the world and become lost in a dance all her own.

Sakura's heart ached and then the pain bloomed in her once more. Like a knife in her back she gasped, a soundless exhale, and fell to her knees. Hanabi danced on, blind to the world, too caught up to see Sakura in her distress or the distortion of time and space at the far end of the room.

Years. It had been years, an entire lifetime ago, but Sakura would never forget the sight.

"Hanabi!" Sakura screamed.

The young girl stumbled out of a spin, expression stormy, but the mice were already swarming in. Hundreds of them in every shade and size, with black, brown, and red eyes, glistening like jewels. Hanabi screamed at the sight of them and staggered towards Sakura, tears of fear caught in her lashes as they started to swarm at her ankles, crawling up her legs.

Sakura grabbed for her and the moment she made contact the mice seemed to redouble their efforts to swallow both of them in a swirl of fur and whiskers. Hanabi was crying, screaming Sakura's name and kicking when she could.

"Don't fight them yet, just hold on!" Sakura hollered, pulling Hanabi close. She shut her eyes as tiny mouse feet scampered over her face and into her hair. Hanabi tried to pull away, but Sakura tugged her back into her arms and covered her as best she could while the magic sucked them down. A thousand squeaking voices filled the air and the last of the light winked out of existence, replaced with fur.

Down, down, down they fell.

* * *

AN: I know someone is gonna be mad about all these new stories, but they are both (mostly) finished and just seasonally released. Sugarplum has like, five chapters, and should be done before January. Basically it's a personal challenge to update an old half finished fic with a more solid plot.

Not all heroes are chosen ones.

Pairing: ItaSakuSaso


	2. Chapter 2

Sugarplum

* * *

Sakura smelled the world before she saw it. She inhaled deep and the nostalgia was so painful it nearly cracked her ribs from swelling her heart. She opened her eyes and found her lashes wet with tears. The world smelled like magic again, a thing she had stopped believing in years and years ago.

"-And that's why I need your help. You're the one fated to save my people."

Sakura sat up, heading ringing from a bruise that would likely swell. The ground under her was mossy and damp with wet soil underneath a bed of green. The trees around them hung with what looked like Spanish moss but was actually candy floss. They were in the disputed lands between the Land of the Dolls and the Mouse King's domain.

"No, you have to have made a mistake," Hanabi said, drawing Sakura's attention down.

Below the rise Sakura woke up on Hanabi stood talking with a young boy her age who bent towards her with a hopeful gleam in his eyes. Sakura frowned at his dark hair and familiar uniform.

"It's not a mistake," the boy cried. "I know you, I know you're special. You're the one the magic drew me towards. I know its you who can save our world."

Hanabi flustered almost as prettily as her sister, but with less blushing. "I don't know how to do something like that. I don't have magic and I've never even been out of the country before without an escort. You can't ask something so ludicrous from me."

The boy took a step towards her and touched her hand. Hanabi didn't pull away so the boy tugged her hands towards his chest before bending his head over them. "It's you, it has to be you. I saw you in all my dreams. I saw you save our world. There's magic in you and now that you're here in my lands you can finally learn how to draw upon it. Please, Hanabi, say you'll help my people. We'll be lost without you."

"Sasuke…I can't… I don't know how."

Sasuke tugged her closer. "I'll help you. Just, please don't give up on yourself before you even try. You're worth more than that."

"Helping you in my dreams is one thing, saving a real place like this is just…it's something else. I don't want to let you down but I don't know what saving anyone is going to actually look like."

"You're willing to try thought?"

Hanabi hesitantly nodded. "I want to try."

Sasuke smiled wide and kissed her fingers. "Perfect! That's all I ask. You'll be the miracle my people need."

Something made Sakura's gut roll when she heard Sasuke talk about Hanabi like she was some fated savior the prophets had foretold. He talked her up until there was nothing she could do but accept.

When Sasuke called her the miracle his people needed something in Sakura snapped and she launched herself over the rise and landed on two sturdy feet alongside the couple. Sasuke and Hanabi both flinched but Sakura was faster than either. She pulled Hanabi and Sasuke apart putting herself between the two, her back to Hanabi.

"That's enough of that," Sakura snarled. "You're singing a song little rat prince and I've heard that tune before. Who are you to bring us to this world?"

"Sakura?" Hanabi gasped. "Don't be like that. It's Sasuke, he's my friend."

Sasuke snarled, his black eyes starting to spin red with new color. It made something in Sakura tense automatically, and she readied to throw her shoe at the brat before remembering how the last of her magic left her years and years ago.

"Get away from her, you hideous brute," Sasuke snarled. "You don't know who you're dealing with."

"Which is why I asked you who you were, smartass," Sakura huffed.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha, second born prince and second in line to the throne of the noble mouse kingdom. I could have you head for such insolence. Unhand my lady."

Sakura snorted. "My lady?" she mocked in a deep imitation of Sasuke's voice. Hanabi made an embarrassed sound behind Sakura's elbow and Sasuke flushed red.

"You don't understand anything. Hanabi is my savior. She's the one who can save us from the blight that's attacking out lands."

"Hanabi is a kid, she can't even drive yet. Don't hype it up."

"Sakura," Hanabi protested. "It's not silly, I swear. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true that this is a new world and in this world I can sometimes…do stuff."

Sakura glanced back over her shoulder. "You've been here before?"

"Well, no, I haven't."

"And you've cured a blight with you magic before."

"No, I haven't done that either."

Sakura opened her mouth to say something more but Sasuke lunged, eyes red and hands on fire. Sakura reacted quicker than she should have, body well conditioned to danger and action. She caught Sasuke's fiery fist with her own, dousing the flames before he could hurt her much. Sasuke countered with a kick she deflected just as easily. Sasuke ran through a series of blows and strikes, but Sakura deflected them all or caught them before throwing Sasuke back off his feet. The mouse prince stumbled and Sakura moved in to sit on his stomach sideways, pinning his hands to his sides but leaving his face exposed.

"Sakura, don't," Hanabi exclaimed, looking distressed. "Sasuke was just trying to protect me."

"No, he was just trying to use you," Sakura snapped, uncharacteristic short with the younger girl. It was enough to make Hanabi flinch and draw back, eyes wide and vulnerable, but Sakura's harsh expression didn't lessen. "What did you think he wanted, Hanabi?"

"He wanted my help."

"And then?" Sakura pressed, eyes narrowed. "He's using you, selling you a story to buy your services. He kidnapped you to this place and put you in a situation you couldn't escape before guilting you into doing something you've never attempted before. He's a pretty lie, that's all."

"Not true!" Sasuke snarled. "You're a beastly woman and a horrible cheat. I never lied to Hanabi. It's true what I said, she's the chosen one and my people need her! They're dying from the blight, I had no other options."

"So you kidnapped her and _then_ told her the story when you were sure she couldn't run away or deny your request." Sakura snorted. "What a gentleman."

"I've had to watch my people suffer in agony and die a slow and miserable death that dragged on for days because of this blight. I've had to watch as whole families were devoured by its foul magic. I've had to burry their young in graves no bigger than your arm. Don't insult me for doing what I had to do. Hanabi is our savior."

"She's a kid and you're a manipulative asshole."

Sasuke roared and struggled but Sakura didn't budge.

"But Sakura, if he's telling the truth then I want to help him and his people. If there are families who are dying from something I can fix or heal…I need to try. And Sasuke is my friend. I've known him for a long time. He's not lying to me, I know it."

"You think you're the chosen one?" Sakura asked, tone curious as she arched a single brow in question. "You think it's worth it to explore instead of going back, to your family, to your bed, to you own life."

"At least I have a life to go back to. Other aren't so fortunate."

Sakura felt her lips curl downwards. Hanabi was glorious in her righteous determination. Sakura saw the way the young girl's eyes turned firm and harsher than ice. There would be no convincing her out of her own decision now, no matter how sound Sakura's arguments were. It didn't matter. The allure of being a hero was a strong one, and Sakura couldn't fault Hanabi for getting caught up in it. That would just make her an old hypocrite.

"What about me? What about my life in the real world?" Sakura kicked at Sasuke's side, making him grunt. "Why did you have to drag me into this?"

"I-I don't know! You were just dragged in and-and-a-a-and I don't know how! You weren't supposed to be able to move between worlds without magic but you must have gotten sucked in by accident."

Sakura made a face but stood suddenly, letting Sasuke roll free onto his side where he could brace against the earth and push himself up. He glared at Sakura through his bangs and she returned the gesture tenfold.

"Send me back," Sakura demanded.

"I can't do that. I can only bring people here. My brother is the one who can send them away, he's the king."

"Then have him send me back," Sakura said.

Sasuke's face melted into horror and shock. "He's the king! He can't just stop what he's doing and send you back like that. No."

Sakura turned on Hanabi. "Make him send me back, Hanabi. You're hi savior. He has to do what you say, right?"

"That's not fair!" Sasuke cried with a whiny tone behind her back, but Sakura ignored him. Hanabi stared up at Sakura and the determination from before was gone, replaced by something else Sakura knew too well.

"You'd leave me here just like that?" Hanabi asked in a whisper.

"You said you knew Sasuke. You wouldn't be alone. I'm sure he'd take care of his _savior_." Sakura wiggled her hands for emphasis. "You don't need an old person like me."

"That's not true! You're strong, the strongest person I know. You're a super skilled fighter, and you always wait with me when I'm alone."

Sakura couldn't help but laugh. "Why does that last fact matter?"

"It matters the most."

Suddenly Sakura felt like she couldn't laugh at Hanabi anymore. The girl had more of that earlier determination in her eyes again and there would be no arguing. Sakura didn't appreciate situations when she felt cohered or forced into a decision, but Hanabi was the preverbal puppy with eyes too big for her face, begging on the other side of the glass window. Sakura might try, but she knew she wouldn't be able to say no to Hanabi if the younger girl asked her anything. As much as they bantered and as often as they teased, Sakura still saw Hanabi as a sort of little sister, and Sakura didn't abandon family so easily.

Sakura turned back to look at Sasuke, waiting for him to say something in protest, but the boy kept silent, watching them both cautiously, waiting to see what would happen next. His jacket was dirty and his wrist looked a bit bruised, but other than that, it was the look in his eyes that made her think he seemed a little on the worse side. She doubted that came from her ten second thrashing.

"Fine," Sakura finally admitted. "I'll go with you. I'll see this through, but then we're both heading back together. Got it?"

"Of course," the younger girl said, sounding obedient. Hanabi smiled, but there was a dusting of pink high on her cheeks that matched the blush on Sasuke's ears. Sakura couldn't help but distrust it.

Sakura turned her sharp eyes on the mouse prince. "You'll lead the way back to your kingdom without delay then. Start walking, kid."

"I don't take orders from you!" Sasuke shouted.

It sounded like something an eight year old would say, and Sakura hated to admit she had trouble seeing the difference between eight year olds and sixteen year olds, but in her defense they didn't sound all that different.

Sakura walked past Sasuke, shoving him lightly on the shoulder to walk out of the clearing and up a path that offers a new vantage. The candy floss hung low and had to be brushed aside, but after a few paces the woods cleared up and Sakura could see much further. One half of the horizon seemed paler in color with a variety of rainbow shades to the grass and hills, while the other seemed to return to more natural, muted colors. Sakura knew in her gut where she had to turn to find the mouse kingdom.

She started walking, hearing behind the pitter patter of two sets of adolescent feet.

"How do you know where you're going?" Hanabi asked, calling after Sakura as she hurried to catch up.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sakura waved her hand at the horizon where no sun could be seen in the sky, though it was clearly light out. "You should know this land better than me, since you've dreamed of this place."

"It's not as clear as this. I dreamed of the palace and Sasuke's grand ballroom. I've been to the palace gardens but never this far out." Hanabi caught up to Sakura but slowed down to match the older girl's pace before glancing back to where Sasuke trailed a step and a half behind.

"That'll be useful," Sakura huffed, but reached out to ruffle Hanabi's hair in affection so she knew Sakura's words were only teasing and not meant to be biting. "You were always a brilliant dancer. Maybe that's how you'll save this land from blight. You can dance the darkness away."

"I doubt it," Hanabi grumbled.

The land stretched on and they traveled in comfortable silence without much more incident. The road wasn't difficult nor was the terrain challenging. Instead the trio made good time and found themselves far out of the hand floss forest before the sky without a sun began to dim all over.

"We will need to rest for the night," Sasuke explained before darkness could finish taking hold. "I'll find us a place."

"Where? There aren't any places that look habitable," Hanabi said.

Sasuke turned back and stared a wide eyed stare at Hanabi for a moment before flushing. He colored too easily when she talked to him or looked at him. "I-I forgot you wouldn't know. Most of our villages are underground. You wouldn't recognize them if you passed over them."

"We're not far from one," Sakura added in a whisper, staring off across the expanse. It wasn't nearly as colorful as the candy lands, but there were natural rock structures and formations that could easily serve as the bones of a city's sub terrain identification. Sakura didn't know where the paths were to defend, but she knew one was nearby. Why else would Sasuke have stopped?

Sasuke told them to stay put before he dark off and disappeared into the high grasses that hadn't seemed nearly as high as Sakura first assumed them to be. Left on their own, the girls shared a look between them that conveyed what words could not.

"So…didn't expect this when you woke up, did you?" Hanabi laughed.

Sakura yawned and paced back, rolling her shoulders as she moved. "Not in so many ways, no. But here I am, being led by the nose to worlds unknown. I don't think that's the worst way to spend one's day."

"You're not worried about anyone else on the…from where we left them behind in the other world?" Hanabi asked.

"I doubt time moves the same way here as it does there. Why should one world's time influence another world's time? When this is over we'll wake up and it will be the same exact second we first left."

"What if it takes months?"

"There's really no point in worrying about it, is there? It's not like you're willing to take us back so soon just because you're worried about other people missing us."

Hanabi stepped closer to Sakura, eyes stronger with resolve. "I'm here because I believe I can help people. Don't you think that's important?"

Sakura approached the side of the road and bent down to examine the grass. It brushed her knees and was soft to the touch, but the soil underneath it was the color of pitch and smelled like licorice.

"I don't think we're out of the candy kingdom," she said aloud.

"The what?" Sakura started, turning to find Hanabi much closer than before. The younger girl was staring hard at the same dark soil, trying to see what Sakura saw.

"I don't know what Sasuke has told you about his lands, but I don't think his lands are as in danger as he believes them to be. His brother is the mouse king, right? That's what he said. This soil smells like...well, here, have a whiff." Sakura grabbed a fistful and held it up for Hanabi to inhale.

"Oh," the younger girl exclaimed. "The kingdom over the ridges is the candy kingdom, and its all candy stuff, like from the ballet, but Sasuke isn't anything like the mice people from the story are portrayed. He told me about their uncle and how he was crazy with power and attempted to invade."

"What else did Sasuke tell you?" Sakura asked, keeping a stray eye peeled for the boy's return.

"That his brother is the best ruler the kingdom has ever had and how they're a changed people. They're not at war with the candy land citizens anymore, but the candy people are still pricks about it I guess." Hanabi paused and then grimaced. "But that might just be Sasuke's personal bias coloring the truth. The two lands used to be at war but aren't anymore."

"I think then, if what you say is true, that these lands used to belong to the candy people but were conquered during the subsequent wars. It doesn't look like candy anymore, but you can still smell it. We must still be far from the capital."

Sakura pushed against her knees and stood, brushing the soil off her palms, but Hanabi didn't move away, staying inside her personal bubble. "You know the stories right? You danced the ballet when you were younger so you should know all about how the mouse people are portrayed as villains, but this isn't the story, this is a reality. It's different."

"You don't think this is all a dream?" Sakura laugh playfully.

"No," Hanabi stressed. "And you're stuck here like it or not. I'm sorry about that and I realized Sasuke hasn't made the best first impression on you, but please don't think he is the bad guy. Please don't judge his people before you know them. In this world the other kingdoms..."

"I got it," Sakura sighed. "Don't stress yourself out about it. I think he's heading back anyway."

Sakura pointed and sure enough, Sasuke was running through the grass. He popped up right in front of them, causing Hanabi to make a short, excited sound in surprise. He colored at her subsequent laughter while Sakura just rolled her eyes.

"The town is clean. It's safe for you and your friend to visit tonight. We're not far from the capital. We can make it there before tomorrow night."

"That's a relief," Hanabi giggled. "Lead the way."

Sasuke smiled and offered his hand, which Hanabi took. Sakura followed at a distance until they came upon a crack in the rocky earth. Sakura found the opening a moment later and followed the pair down, down, down.

The temperature drop was instant, and Hanabi started to shiver right away, prompting Sasuke to tug her closer. Sakura glowered in the back, holding her arms in an effort to conserve body heat. Sasuke assured them he'd acquire warmer cloaks once they take bed for the night.

Along the way crystal quarts charged with buzzing lights guided their narrow path. Before long the tunnel opened up into a well lit cavern with more polished lights that glittered in a myriad of soft, varied colors. There were people going back and forth, darting out to do their own business before dipping out of sight. They were dressed modest, but warmly. Sakura watched them pass, but only one or two of them paid the group any mind. Most seemed perfectly content to go about their business.

"In here," Sasuke said, gesturing to a structure that resembled a German style home. There was a cluster of sticks gathered together and hung from a gold string over the doorway.

Inside the interior was warmly lit with a fire large enough to cast the whole room in a friendly orange glow. There were seven to eight round tables mostly filled, and a few left open. Past them all was a bar where a woman with noticeably longer ears than the rest stood reading from a ledger. She eyed Sasuke keenly as he came stumbling in, and Sakura recognized the look of a woman who knew trouble when she saw it.

"Rooms?" the woman asked as they neared.

Sasuke held up two fingers and then produced the appropriate brass looking coins stamped with the image of a rat. On the opposite side of the coin there were three crowns engraved. They seemed like newer coins compared to the ones the innkeeper produced for change. The old coins had a seven headed rat and on the back there was the image of seven stars around a crown.

"You two can share a room, we'll set off again in the morning. Do you want anything to eat Hanabi? We could send something up to the rooms."

Sakura tried not to take offense to how she was being ignored. Thankfully Hanabi gushed about how famished she was and Sasuke responded by ordering far too much food for a single person to eat, saying he would order more if she wasn't satisfied. Once they were alone Hanabit turned to Sakura and began to split the food.

"I never had to eat in the dreams. I almost forgot about being hungry until Sasuke mentioned it," Hanabi explained over a handful of roasted chestnuts that gleamed with syrup.

"You're not dreaming then. Your body still needs nutrients here so it's best to store up when you can because we don't know the next time Sasuke will be able to stop and get food for you." Sakura arched an eyebrow pointedly before taking a handful of dried cranberries to scatter over her bread.

"Don't worry. As long as you're with me you'll be taken care of, so long as my magnanimous mood holds," Hanabi joked.

"I'll try to stay in your good graces then," Sakura joked back before turning in for the night.

The day almost ended on a note of peace, but Sakura's luck hadn't been with her since before the morning began so long ago. In the middle of the night the underground cavern became a bed of chaos as men and women mouse citizens screamed and ran through the streets, blind for all the good it did them.

Sakura rolled out of bed first and took to the stairs, catching the first person she passed by the shoulders and twisting him around so his back slammed into the wall.

"What's going on?" she demanded just as Hanabi started to emerge. "Why is everyone panicking?"

"The blight, it's taken someone! It's here!"

Sakura and Hanabi shared a look as the man struggled free.

"Sasuke said he checked," Hanabi protested. "I don't think I'm ready. I don't know how to cure it."

"You don't need to," Sakura said, grabbing Hanabi by the wrist. "We're getting out of here. You've got shoes on so we're going, come on."

Sakura drubbed the younger girl behind her by the wrist, down the stairs and out into the city streets where the crystals overhead, once so dim it seemed like night, were blazing brighter in hues of blue. Behind her Hanabi still protested.

"I've never tried using magic outside of my dreams. I don't know if I can. I don't know _if I even have magic_. What if I just dreamed it all up? Sakura, Sakura?!"

She turned at the sharper tone to Hanabi's cries and saw the reason for it. There was a beast crewing away the wooden siding of a house, tearing through it with overextended jaws to pulled the wall down until it could stick its whole head inside. Somewhere else people screamed from the sight of it.

Behind her Hanbi began to chant a self depreciating mantra of 'I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't,' that only grew louder and faster the longer they stood there, watching the beast as big as a horse tears away a building with its teeth.

The the creature turned, because Sakura's luck was just that bad, and locked its glowing yellow eyes on the pair of them, petrified in the middle of the street. Sakura tried to move, but when she tugged on Hanabi it was like tugging on a stone pillar. The girl was frozen still, and if Sakura dragged Hanabi along behind her, or carried her, she'd never be able to run away fast enough.

There was another beast coming out of a building. It was smaller but had the torso of a child in it's teeth. It bit down hard and the child turned black like the other beasts, and fell limp to the ground as the transformation took over, little by little, claiming his body piece by piece like a disease.

The first creature roared and then began to stalk. There was nothing hurried about it, but Sakura knew that wasn't because it couldn't dash like lightning when it wanted to. There was just no reason for it to hurry.

"Hanabi, you need to trust in yourself a bit more. You need to believe in the light that sits in a pool at the bottom of your belly. You're here to help people, and they're counting on you to do just that. You need to snap out of it, Hanabi!" Sakura yelled over her shoulder.

"I-I can't feel my magic."

"You're in shock," Sakura hurried to say. "You're scared, but push through it and find the light. Find your happiness and your courage together. It's there, reach for it and visualize your body burning with new light. See it in your mind."

The creature was halfway across the space between them, and it's legs buckled as its walk morphed into an easy canter. Sakura threw up her arms and braced like she was expecting a punch, but the mouth came down to clam around her arms and she roared at the pressure. She felt her skin scream in protest, but it wasn't the worst pain in the world, so she managed to break the bite and throw the monster off. It staggered so Sakura followed it back with a sharp right hook across the jaw, followed by a shaper elbow. It was more like a wolf and less like a man, but Sakura fell into the fighting too easily.

Each time she came into contact with it, her skin with bloom quickly with a splotch of darkness before the back section flaked and peeled off, leaving her skin immaculate like before.

Sakura brought her fists together and swung them down on the head and the beast collapsed on a pained whine. It twitched in the dust and Sakura took the opportunity to whirl back on Hanabi and scream again.

"You can do it. Purify this person and save the people you said you would!"

Hanabi's eyes were wet with tears, but then they glowed with a silver blue light. Sakura felt the wave wash over her and then the creature under her heel shivered from it as well. Sakura watched, transfixed, as the first beast shrank and shed scales of curling black layers until he was just a man again, shivering atop a pile of black dust.

The other creatures touched by the blight shivered as Hanabi's magic touched them too. Soon it wasn't just the one man who was left in his own ash coverings. Each person touched emerged clean and whole, looking no worse for it.

Sasuke stood behind Hanabi, bleeding from a cut across his face. He reached out to touch her shoulder and the look on his face, the look from his eyes, was one of such selfless and pure adoration Sakura made herself look away.

Then the people came out, and the lights glowed pink as a cheer rose up. 'Savior, savior, savior!' A mother wept and kissed the earth, another held her baby over her head and asked for the savior's favor. Men were pulling out their watches and coins to leave at her feet. Hanabi turned halfway around to see them all, tears still drying on her cheeks until she laughed, prompting Sasuke to join him with his own bashful chuckles.

Sakura hung back, boots crunching the black curls of a man's shed blight. She turned away and fought the surging mob for somewhere quite. She found a place perfect for her behind the old inn. There she sank against the wall and forced her hands over her head so that the memories wouldn't be brought back by their cries.

A long time ago, when Sakura had been Hanabi's age, a different group of people had cheered the same thing for a very different reason.

The memory came back with a vengeance.

 _Sakura stood atop a golden carriage drawn by seven swans. On one arm she wore six crows, and on the other she wore six more. The last crown she wore atop her own head while the people cried and screamed their love for her. Some flung roses, some flung candies, and then others flung coins inscribed with a handsome man's face._

 _The handsome man from the coins came up behind her, kissed her cheek and then bent his knee to kneel before her on their carriage. His scarlet hair was still a little disheveled from the wind, but she liked it that way._

 _"You are a savior, to both my people and myself. Without you we would have perished. Take my heart and keep it safe, for as sure as my title be prince to these lands, I swear I will make you queen of all you can see once you come of age. Will you wait for me, my love?"_

 _His smile had been blinding._

 _Sakura loved her prince too fiercely to even think about it. She knew her answer as surly as she knew her own name. "Of course, my sweet prince. I will always wait for you."_

But when the memory ended Sakura wasn't a queen. She was dirty and sobbing to herself, alone in a back alleyway while the world rejoiced in a new girl, one that would no doubt be used up and discarded just as easily, once her magic ran out too.

* * *

AN: And that's chapter two! I'm super excited for when Itachi shows up next chapter (three) and when Sasori shows up in flashbacks in chapter four. I know that's what you're all excited for. It's the good stuff. Don't think I don't know it.

I know someone is gonna be mad about all these new stories, but they are both (mostly) finished and just seasonally released. Sugarplum has like, five chapters, and should be done before January. Basically it's a personal challenge to update an old half finished fic with a more solid plot.

Not all heroes are chosen ones.

Pairing: ItaSakuSaso


	3. Chapter 3

Sugarplum

* * *

It took longer to leave in the morning. Too many people wanted to pay their respects to the savior, and Hanabi had a hard time managing all the praise and adoration. It seemed to embarrass her more than Sasuke's glances.

"It would have been faster with horses or some other sort of carriage," Sakura complained, more in a bad mood than she should have been considering she was the oldest of the three by a fair bit and _supposedly_ the most mature.

Supposedly _._

"They didn't have any to spare and it's not like it's such a long walk. We'll be there tonight!" Hanabi cheered.

"What does that even mean in a land with no sun in its sky?" she asked around a yawn.

"There are still hours in the day. We will be at my brother's castle before too many of them pass," Sasuke interjected. "You can save your breath and quit complaining now."

"Don't want to," Sakura bit back.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and Sakura thought she saw them flash red, but it was impossible to check once Hanabi reached out for the boy's hand. Sasuke melted at her touch and turned back to smile at Hanabi.

Sakura wasn't sure how she was expected to survive hours of exposure to such sappiness. Watching the pair of them made her stomach turn. She didn't have much tolerance for romance in general, but it was worse when it was kids she had to watch going starry eyed for each other. It made her even grumpier than waking in the morning.

Sakura quickened her pace and passed the pair, taking the road as far as she was comfortable before slowing down. She kept herself several paces ahead of Hanabi and Sasuke, speeding up whenever their conversations became loud enough for her to overhear. The pair had too much to talk about.

It was noon before Sakura saw anything worth stopping to look at. She crested the hill first and saw the expanse of black before the other two. The blight stretched out in a formless shape across the grasslands. At the center was a cut in the ground Sakura suspected belonged to another underground village.

Before the other two could draw close enough, Sakura jogged ahead and defended the side of the hill into the blackness. When her feet touched down the blight broke up into smoke and flaked free. She left a trail of footprints up to the opening. Sakura kicked at the blight around a small door and then reached down to tug it open.

Behind her someone was screaming but she ignored it. The door opened without protest but the smell knocked Sakura back. There was a moaning from deep below and without a directed light, Sakura had to make do with the natural sky to see down.

There was a figure, human like in shape, crawling towards the light. It was skinny enough to be made out of just bones and skin. It looked up at Sakura and she could see the anguish in its eyes. Even if Hanabi cured it from the blight the creature wouldn't be able to survive. Further in there were more bodies, but none of them moved.

There was even more shouting behind her as Sasuke and Hanabi called out to her from the edge of the blight. Hanabi looked like she wanted to walk out, but Sasuke held her back.

Sakura didn't have any fear for herself regarding the blight. Last night she had come into direct conflict, been touched and scratched, but even before Hanabi's prayer cleaned the whole underground city, the blight couldn't hold onto Sakura's body. Maybe it was because of who she was or what she had done in another lifetime, but Sakura knew she was immune to the blight.

She dropped down into the cavern and the creature that had once been a man crawled towards her. His legs were gone, but he still wore the shreds that had once been his pants. When Sakura touched him there was no strength in his grip.

"Can you talk?" she asked him.

The man opened his mouth but only foul air came out.

"I didn't think so. I'm sorry I can't cure you. I haven't been able to use magic in this world like my friend." Sakura thought about it and then cringed. "I'm not special anymore. It's actually been years since I last did anything magical."

He hissed another breath, but it was just wind.

"Sorry. All I can do is end your suffering now."

Sakura swallowed and then wrapped her arms around his head. She twisted sharply and the air wheezed out of him as his neck snapped and the last bit of life was stolen from him.

The last wheeze of breath sounded almost peaceful though.

"Rest in what peace you may, old man," Sakura whispered before she turned to climb back up the way she came.

She pulled herself up out of the hole and brushed some of the darkness off her pants. It colored her arms and hands like soot from a fireplace, but cleaned off easily when she patted it down. She made a new trail of footprints through the blight to where Sasuke was pulling Hanabi back, further and further from the darkness.

"Stay away you monster," Sasuke snarled just as Sakura crossed over from the black patch onto healthy grass.

"Let me go, Sasuke, it's still Sakura, look at her! She's just fine and there's no sign of the blight. You said it manifests instantly."

"It-this could be a different case. No one walks across the blighted fields or touches it and is unchanged," Sasuke hissed back over his shoulder in an almost panicked tone.

Sakura chuckled at the sound. "Okay then, you think you need to kill me?"

"I will if I have to!"

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke's hair ruffled with anger as he shook his head. "If it's to keep you safe Hanabi I'll do anything. I won't let you fall to this blight!"

"Then I'll keep my distance," Sakura said in a bored tone. "You can stab me in the back at the first sign of trouble, little prince. Now, which way to the castle?"

"Sakura?" Hanabi called out in concern.

But Sakura had already turned away from the blight to head up the hill and back onto the path that would lead them to where they needed to go. She heard them clamoring behind her but she didn't look back to see if they followed. She knew better.

The light in the sky didn't shift, but the hours passed. It was a while of steady travel before she heard someone running up behind her. She looked to the side just as Hanabi drew even with her. There was a hard look on her face that demanded answers.

"Why did you go there?"

Sakura blinked at the blunt question. "Why? I don't know. Because I wanted to, I guess."

"You knew it was dangerous. You saw it last night, same as me, but you still went there. Why?"

"Hanabi, if you're looking for an answer other than what I've already given you then you'll be waiting forever because that's it. I just felt like it. No big deal."

"You would just risk you life on a whim?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I don't think my life was in that much risk."

Sasuke jogged up after hearing that and grabbed at Hanabi's hand. "Yes it was! My people can't even get near the stuff before it starts to make our noses bleed. It's dangerous. If it wasn't such a big deal we wouldn't have resorted to bringing Hanabi here to cure it." Sasuke glanced back at Hanabi. "I would never dream of risking her life if only it weren't for all my people."

Hanabi's eyes softened for Sasuke. "It's not a risk, Sasuke. I told you I want to help."

If Sakura left them alone the pair would go back and forth, staring into each other's eyes and saying sweet things about each other without ending. It was a nauseating loop Sakura was forced to listen to.

Sakura attempted to skip ahead of them and exit hearing range, but Hanabi noticed right away and broke the loop to dash up ahead and block the path.

"No, you're not running away from me!" she protested.

"You're gross, kid," Sakura sighed. "Do whatever you want but don't force me to listen to all of it. I want to gag. You're both like babies to me."

"You're changing the subject," Hanabi said, even thought her face flushed with embarrassment. "There's something you're not telling me."

"There's lots I'm not telling you, because it's not your business."

"Something that is my business then," Hanabi answered. "What are you not telling me?"

Sakura was forced to stand still in the middle of the road, staring down a girl that only came up to her shoulders, and was half as heavy. Hanabi had the determination of a girl twice her age, but she was still just a girl, young and unaware of the world's darker habits. She wasn't a broken thing. She wouldn't understand and Sakura didn't _want_ Hanabi to understand.

"I'm not going to play this game with you, Hanabi. Let me pass. We have somewhere we need to get, unless this ax of yours to grind is more important than all those people you want to save? You didn't care about sending me home in comparison, so don't talk to me like this and expect me to peel back the layers of my heart for you."

Sakura didn't wait for Hanabi to respond, but marched past her, forcing her way through when the young girl threw out her arm. Sakura was built like a tree while Hanabi was a twig. There was no resistance.

The sound of a saber unsheathing itself made her pause and glance back. Sasuke was glaring hard with two red eyes and his saber drawn.

"You endangered the lady. The blight's ash still clings to you and yet you don't care if the hope of all my people is touched by it?" he snarled. "Disgusting."

Sakura rolled her shoulder in an easy shrug. "Tell me about it kid, you're the one making me feel gross. It's the trendy thing to do now, I guess."

"Hanabi was not mistaken, you are hiding something from us, something relevant to this blight and our world. You touched the creatures and crossed the marked lands without consequence. How? Are you in league with this new evil? Is that why you followed Hanabi to this world from yours?"

Sakura just laughed and turned her back to the pair, walking on ahead with her longer strides to create distance. She thought that would be the end of it, that Sasuke would bluster and Hanabi would have to comfort him, but that wasn't what happened.

Sasuke lunged and it was a reflex Sakura didn't know she had that saved her in time. She twisted out of the way as his saber cut through the air and nearly cut a chunk out of her side. Sasuke snarled like a rat and redirected himself, striking out again, prompting her to sidestep to safety. He came at her a third time and instead of avoiding him, Sakura rushed forward to meet the strike. She grabbed Sasuke's hands around the handle and crushed them against the hilt. He cried out in pain and dropped the sword, but Sakura didn't let him go with just that. Instead she kicked him back, sending him rolling through the dirt.

"Sakura, how could you?" Hanabi cried, rushing to Sasuke's side.

Sakura wanted to hit her head against a wall for how Hanabi made her feel sometimes. "Honey, he came at me with a sword. What was I supposed to do?" She hen turned towards Sasuke. "Listen, for all I know this blight is something you and your people are responsible for. I was told to trust you, but you're a rat. I've heard the stories all my life and you're a disaster in all of them. Why should I trust you, huh?"

"These are my people and my lands. I will protect them and Hanabi with the life I have to give. You are a threat," Sasuke said around a wince as he climbed to his feet.

"Oh please, this is nonsense! I don't care about any of this, I just want to go home. Hanabi can stay behind to cure the blight and I'll go on my way. If I wanted to hurt either of you, I could do it now, or I could of done it last night when you slept. I've had no lack of opportunity, but I'd never do something like that because I'm not a villain," Sakura shouted. "So don't paint me as one."

Hanabi stared up at Sakura with wide, hurt eyes, but Sasuke kept up his glare.

With nothing left to say, Sakura turned and trotted ahead of them.

The sunlight reached its zenith without a sun, and though they stopped to rest and eat their own food, the two consumed what was leftover from their dinner apart from each other. It was several hours before Hanabi worked up the nerve to approach Sakura again, but by then Sakura had cooled down and reflected on her actions enough to not flinch when Hanabi reached out to touch the older girl's hand.

"I'm sorry for prying."

"Are you?" Sakura asked, sounding doubtful.

Hanabi huffed. "I pressed you too much, but I don't regret asking you. I'm still curious and I don't think you were completely honest with me back there."

"Maybe I wasn't. But if I choose to keep some things to myself that's my right. I'm entitled to keep some things sacred in my life and that doesn't mean you're entitled to them just because you ask."

"I…think I understand that."

When Sakura sighed she felt like a ballon that lost its helium. "I don't think you do, but you don't need to so it's fine."

"I want to understand what's going on with you, Sakura. I can guess some things on my own. You're not as freaked out about this world as you should be, for one. Did you….did you dream of this place too?"

If Sakura's heart was a garden it was barren and thick with layers of soil atop soil. Hanabi's question was like a pick or shovel digging down into the layer beneath the topsoil. Sakura felt turned out, but closed her eyes to the sensation and pressed on.

"Something like that," she admitted with a whisper before she could regret the confession.

Now it was Hanabi's turn to deflate. "I knew it. You were too comfortable with the monsters. If it hadn't been for you staying calm and talking to me during the attack I never would have been able to do what I did. How did you know?"

The question made a memory flash behind her eyes before she could help it.

 _She pulled a sword straight out of her body, glistening like spun sugar, and adorned with sugarplums along the hilt in decoration. He grabbed it and drew it the rest of the way to brandish in a fight that ended with him thanking her again for saving him and his lands while assuring her of his love for her_.

The memory tasted too much like what she felt when she watched Hanabi and Sasuke coo over each other. Maybe half a decade ago when that had been Sakura, someone else had watched her fawn over a red-haired prince and turned away in disgust.

"Hanabi." The girl looked up and hummed when she heard her name. "Listen, it's not worth it. Do your duty, save these people, but don't forget that your own value has nothing to do with the magic or the victory or their adoration. You'll always be more than that. It's nice to be adored, but don't succumb to it. "

"I'm not sure I understand."

Sakura stopped and watched Sasuke pass them by. The mouse prince still glared back at Sakura over his shoulder, but didn't try to attach her again.

"You like that boy, don't you?"

Hanabi turned bright red. "That's not relevant. We were talking about you!"

Sakura smiled, but it was a tired sort of smile. She reached down and brushed her knuckles over the girl's cheek. "It's okay to love a prince, but don't let him break you."

Hanabi looked confused, but nodded slowly, willing to listen as long as Sakura had something more to say. "You're worried about me, aren't you? Why...?"

"I've seen it before," Sakura answered while looking away. "They will use you up, and love you all the while, until there is nothing left of the girl you used to be."

"Then what?"

"What?" Sakura echoed, glancing backwards over her shoulder.

"Then what happens next?" Hanabi asked.

"Then nothing," Sakura curtly stated. "Then they're done with you. Nothing comes after that."

Sasuke had stopped at the crest of the next hill to turn and wave them up. Sakura and Hanabi jogged to join him but stopped when they saw the walled city with houses above ground and a grand castle set in the center of it all. Sasuke smiled at the sight.

"Welcome to Mousolia!"

Guards came out to meet them and cheered at the sight of the prince, parting the people and rolling out the carpet for him to follow down. Sakura hung back as Sasuke tugged on Hanabi's hand and pulled her along so that she was at his side and equal with him all the way up to the palace.

Along the way Sakura heard the whispers.

" _She saved them from the blight."_

 _"She's the one Prince Sasuke went to find."_

 _"She'll save us_!"

It was all a painfully familiar sound that roared in her ears.

Sakura ducked her head and followed the pair inside, skipping closer when the doors nearly shut in her face. Hanabi glanced back only once, looking excited and nervous and scared all at once.

They were led into a grand hall where the pastries were red and gold with black stone to provide contrast for the rat court's colors. One either side the court gathered wearing colored mouse masks for anonymity while on the throne a single unmasked individual sat, hands folded, knees crossed. Atop his head sat a crown with seven points.

"Presenting to his royal majesty, prince Sasuke Uchiha!" a man announced from behind the throne.

Sasuke dropped Hanabi's hand to jog ahead and fall into an elaborate bow full with sweeping gestures. Hanabi glanced back and Sakura nodded, so the two girls dipped low in a ballet's curtsy.

"Brother, I have met with success. As I said I would, I went to the veil and pulled forth from a far off world the girl who can cure us from this blight." Sasuke reached back and tugged Hanabi forward. "Her magic has already saved a single town from what would be utter annihilation. We have our savior."

"The girl from the whispers?" one of the court mice whispered behind his mask to another.

"She reversed the blight and banished it from the infected, I heard."

"Then we have our solution. She can eradicate the heart of this curse."

Sasuke tilted his chin up, regarding the masks with something close to disgust, but didn't address their whispers. He kept his attention on his brother seated atop the throne in a black and red dress uniform, decorated with gold edges. There was a sash across Itachi's front dripping heavy with medals that looked official and important.

Itachi spoke, addressing Sasuke and the whole room feel silent. "You were successful, my brother, but I do not remember authorizing your expedition. Had it been given more time and thought we might have been able to support you in your endeavors. Why did you not wait?"

Sakura saw from behind how Sasuke stiffened. "My king, there was no time to hesitate."

"We do not hesitate, we consider our actions carefully. Have you forgotten the lessons of our betters?"

Sasuke snapped sounding less like a prince and more like a baby brother as he stepped forward. "But it worked! I did it, and she's here. She's going to help us. I did a good thing. Why can't you just be proud of me?"

Hanabi reached up and touched his hand and Sasuke instantly stiffened, but once he realized who it was beside him he softened. Sakura saw his posture relax.

"I'm okay," he whispered to her, so quiet no one else should have been able to hear it.

"We do not fault you for being ambitious," Itachi boomed. His voice filled the hall so that everyone was forced to listen. "Your heart was where it should have been, aching for the safety of our people. Yet you acted rashly. You took no retainers, you told no one of your plans, and you mistakenly caught up another in your efforts to extract the girl from your dreams. Because of this…"

Itachi's voice went from booming to silence as he looked up, past his brother, to the girls behind him. He didn't spare Hanabi much more than a secondary glance, but instead fixated on Sakura. She felt the weight of his gaze and shifted, hoping he didn't recognize her. It had been years, after all, since she helped the nutcracker prince kill his mad uncle.

Also, he had been a string bean of a kid, not the well toned booming figure that now stood before them.

Itachi descended the few steps to his throne and the whispers broke out as soon as his heel touched the carpet. Sasuke pulled Hanabi to his side and sidestepped when Itachi brushed past them, eyes so wide whole world could fall in. Itachi ignored his brother and the girl savior. Instead, he stopped directly in front of Sakura, gaze never once wavering from her form.

A heavy silenced fell over the room. No one spoke, and every breath seemed held behind their teeth as a whole court watched on.

Sakura didn't think it was her place to say anything, but she felt pressured into speaking. He had recognized her, even without the pretty dress, even with all the years of development, even with the dark smudges and dirt stains, he still recognized her.

"Hello again," Sakura said with what she hoped was an easy smile. "You grew."

Itachi's face turned soft as he reached up and gripped the sides of his crown. He lifted it off his head and tucked it under his arm, ignoring the hiss and outcries of his court. Still standing taller than her, he knelt down on one knee and reached for her hand with his free one.

Sakura let him take it, even as she noticed the shift of every other figure in the room. No one was still standing, least they be higher than the king.

"Sakura, the sugarplum blade that slew our mad oppressor so many years ago. You have returned to these lands, so let me greet you warmly." Itachi tugged her knuckles to his mouth and kissed the skin over her bones with lips like a whisper. It made her spine tingle.

"You remembered," Sakura stiffly chuckled. "I don't think I look the same."

"I would not forget your face. The first people my uncle enslaved were his own. We would not forget the face or the name of our savior so easily, at least not those of us who were there to witness your glory."

His words triggered a memory she didn't want to revisit, a memory of sparkling dresses and blinding lights from the blade of a sword that her prince swung against the seven headed mouse king. The memory shook her hand free from his and she took a half step back, feeling cold all over once she realized how far she had fallen. Itachi was a king now, no longer a skinny little foot solider holding the saber of his uncle while she was a shadow of the girl dancing among the dolls in victory and glory.

Sakura wanted to hide. Her skin felt like it didn't fit anymore. She imagined spiders or beetles crawling about inside her and it made her stomach turn. She wanted him to stop looking at her like that, least her shame grow worse.

He spoke of her glory, but she was normal now. There was no magic left in her and no nutcracker prince was ever going to come back for her. Her glory? Itachi didn't know what he was talking about.

"I have none of that left to give. I am not who you thought I was."

Itachi frowned, eyes searching hers. "I am not mistaken." He then stood and turned to face Sasuke who was crouched on the floor in a very low bow. "Though I must take back my words from earlier, Sasuke. I stand corrected. You are to be applauded. In addition to your girl who can cure the land from its blights, you've brought someone else just as valuable to our halls."

Then the room was in an uproar.

* * *

AN: And that's chapter 3! I'm super excited for when Itachi shows up and now you know why. He remembers her and the next chapter is a bit heavier on the romance. Mostly just longing and pining right now, but yes, it counts as romance. I know that's what you're all excited for. It's the good stuff. Don't think I don't know it.

I know someone is gonna be mad about all these new stories, but they are both (mostly) finished and just seasonally released. Sugarplum has like, SIX chapters, and should be done before January. Basically it's a personal challenge to update an old half finished fic with a more solid plot.


	4. Chapter 4

Sugarplum

* * *

 _Once upon a time a girl dreamed of a prince, dashing and brave with hair as fresh as fire and a smile just as dangerous. He hadn't always been so handsome, but she loved him long before she saw him for who he truly was._

 _When he had been ugly she had saved him from death. When he had been weak she had given him the means to protect himself and liberate a ravaged kingdom. When he had been made new she had stood beside him in a heavy crown and a blinding smile that should have lasted forever._

 _"We've done it," he whispered to her, dipping his head in close so that his nose ticked the back of her ear before kissing the shell._

 _"We have," she agreed. "I'm so proud of you and your people."_

 _"They're your people too. Once I finish inheriting the powers of this land I'll be able to call you back, and for the rest of your days you will live in my home, dance in my halls, and dine from my tables. I will not accept this land without you."_

 _Sakura had heard his honey words often enough that she should have been used to them, but they still made her blush and bud a new, secret sort of smile that she couldn't hide when she bit her lip. He made a disapproving sound and rubbed his thumb over her lower lip, freeing it from the press of her teeth._

 _"You don't need to make such promises. I know you could have anyone you want now that your curse is broken."_

 _"The only girl I want is the one who can't seem to understand that the rest of the world is meaningless to me. She's the only one I want to live for. If I can't have her by my side I'd rather be a wooden doll left in the dirt to rot. Sakura, don't tease me so. My heart may be new but it can't take much more of your teasing."_

 _"Sasori, I'm just a girl," Sakura laughed. "I'm not old enough to do anything, much less be your queen."_

 _"And thus the reason I'm letting you go, to grow and age however long you wish. I'll come for you when you bid me."_

 _Sakura reached up and tapped the edge of his nose with her forefinger. He twitched and she laughed, causing him to smile again. He couldn't help but smile at the sound of her happy voice._

 _"Silly, we both need to grow up."_

 _"I don't know if I can wait that long."_

 _"It's just a few years. I'm nearly eighteen already. You can manage. Just think of how much sweeter it'll be when I come back."_

 _Sasori wrapped her up, arms curled low around her waist. He was strong enough to lift her off her feet and her dress trailed along with her as he turned, rotating her in a mock waltz that had her bubbling into his shoulders._

 _"I can't imagine it. I'm sorry. The happiness right now is the one I want to live in forever, the happiness from having my true love by my side. Delaying my happiness couldn't improve it one ounce. You're just trying to make me feel better, sweet thing."_

 _"Is it working?" Sakura asked through her laughter._

 _"No, but that's fine. Come, dance with me."_

 _He lowered her to her feet and moved his arms around her, until they were in the correct positions for such a dance. There was no music but Sakura knew the steps by heart while he led like a mindreader. The rest of the world fell away while they danced. Whenever they were close enough he'd reach out to kiss her lips, her cheek, her eyelids, her ear. He'd whisper sweet affirmations into her skin. 'My angel, my love, my sweet soul, my sugarplum…' Sakura never tired of his honey words._

 _"I wish we could stay like this forever," he admitted._

 _"One day we will," she answered._

 _"Promise?"_

 _"Promise."_

"Sakura?"

The memory shattered like something solid and she startled awake, dropping her hands from where they crossed in front of her. There was something wet on her face, but she didn't turn around enough for the girl in the doorway to notice. Sakura's hair was unbound and hung freely over her shoulders.

"Hanabi, you should be asleep, it's still dark out."

"I couldn't sleep," Hanabi admitted, shifting nervously in the doorway. "Can I come in?"

Sakura sighed but nodded, bending her head to cup with her hands, hiding the tears stains and wiping away the evidence in a play of smoothing back her loose hair. It was dark in the room, but there were quartz on the windowsill that glowed blue and white with soft light. It wasn't enough to see clearly by, but it was enough for Sakura who had been awake in the dark for hours. She didn't need to see clearly, after all.

"What can I help you with?" Sakura asked, gesturing to a pair of couches that sat across from each other. "I assume you came to me for a reason."

Hanabi nodded, letting the door slide shut behind as she picked her way across the plush carpet to the lounging couches. She chuckled before settling down into one. Sakura arched a quizzing brow that Hanabi could only grin in response to at first.

"You know, your room is a lot nicer than mine. I did notice, also, how it's closer to the king's quarters than anyone else's…and that includes Sasuke. What do you think that says?"

"It's nothing worth loosing sleep over. He's grateful to me for things I did in the past, and he's not sure how else to show his gratitude. Is that what you wanted to talk about?"

"Sort of…" When Sakura didn't instigate a reply Hanabi quickly added, "I wanted to know about your history here. You didn't just dream about visiting these lands, you were literally here, weren't you?"

Sakura nodded slowly. "When I was about your age, I came to these lands, but further out, in the candy kingdom. The land of the dolls was ravaged without a king. I helped lead the resistance and armed the prince of the dolls with the weapon needed to slay the mad mouse king with seven heads."

"Itachi and Sasuke's uncle?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes, the same one. Like you, it started as dreams. A deformed prince trapped in a wooden body suffered and my heart bled for him. I wanted nothing more than to save him, and my wanting was powerful enough to take me to his side. I pulled him free from danger, and then we found his allies in another kingdom. It took some time, but eventually, I was able to aid him in winning back the land of the dolls, a kingdom not nearly as vast as the candy realms or the mouse kingdom at the time."

"You were Clara!"

Sakura heart stung fiercely. "Maybe you could say that. I saved a nutcracker prince, and I don't think I was the first to do so. There have been other lands and other wars in far past ages. It's a vicious cycle that devours sweet maids in their most innocent ages, only to spit them out again years later with a hole in their chest where their hearts should be. It's a curse as old as time itself."

Hanabi's face twisted in confusion. "What do you mean its a curse? Didn't you win? Didn't you defeat the mad mouse king? The reason Itachi and Sasuke are alive and in power is because you helped stop a tyrant."

"Yes. How do you think I did that?"

"Magic," Hanabi guessed.

Sakura nodded. "Good. Now, where do you think this magic came from, and what fed it? What does a young girl feel best in her youth?"

Hanabi's eyes flickered back and forth, brain buzzing for an answer that would make sense. "Freedom, friends, purpose….love?" Hanabi's eyes went wide as she realized it. "Sasuke."

"Love him well and you'll be strong for ages. This blight won't be anything you can't stop. Love was the wellspring for my powers. Because I loved Sas-the prince, I was strong enough to give him the weapon to defeat his enemy."

"But what happened to the prince after that? Why didn't you get your happy ending like in the stories? You're supposed to be…a…well, not a minimum wage gym trainer."

Sakura chuckled and it was bitter and dry sounding, even to her ears. "I know, right? I thought I'd get my happy ending like in the stories, but that didn't happen. I was…I went…I was a child." Sakura frowned at how her voice broke and slipped when she tried to say the correct words before taking a deep breath and trying again. "I went back to my world to grow up and then I would come back here to be with him. That was the plan."

"What went wrong?" Hanabi asked. Her voice held no accusation and was pure and clean of condemnation, but the question would never not sound ugly in Sakura's ears, so she winced.

The question was one that had haunted her for years. It was a question that kept her up all through the night and made her eyes run rivers of tears. After her performance as the Sugarplum Fairy when she was eighteen she had been so sure that he would sweep her up in that instance. Her heart had known that he was supposed to come for her, and call her back.

But he didn't.

"Sakura?"

She looked up again, hearing the concern in Hanabi's tone. A moment later she felt the moisture on her face. "They will use you up, and love you all the while, until there is nothing left of the girl you used to be."

Hanabi's eyes went wide. "No."

Sakura let her lids drift shut as she fell against the back of her couch. "As far as I know, he might as well have forgotten me. He never returned, never called for me, never answered when I shouted out with my heart. When he didn't come…the magic left too. Eventually I started to forget, or maybe I was more purposeful about blocking him out. Therapy does that sometimes. Either way, it didn't matter much when I realized I had no plans for my future. I hadn't expected to need any real world skills after high school. My life sucked for a good long while after that."

"D-Don't you think something could have gone wrong? What if he tried to get to you but couldn't? He couldn't just forget about you! It was true love!" Hanabi stood sharply, fists balled at her sides. "How else would your magic have worked in the first place?"

Sakura slouched, posture defeated. "Young things love easily. We don't know any better. Doesn't make it true."

"I refuse to believe that."

Sakura frowned, brows furrowed in a look of pity. "I'm sorry if my story isn't one you want to hear. It's not one I enjoy telling. I had just convinced myself it was all an elaborate deception my over imaginative brain played on me with the help of some serious therapy. But that was before your prince pulled me back."

"But, there's still magic in you," Hanabi breathed.

Sakura felt herself go still. "How do you figure that?"

"The blight didn't do anything to you. You're impervious to it. The magic in you is keeping it from changing you like it would with anyone else. You're still in love with the prince."

Sakura felt the pinch in her heart and decided it wasn't worth it to lie so late at night. "Maybe. I don't know if you can stop loving someone after going so far for them. It doesn't change facts."

"But you're here now, aren't you?" Hanabi demanded, crossing the space between them. "You can find out why he never came for you. We can discover it together."

"You forgot your reason for being here so quickly?" Sakura teased. "What about the blight? What about all those suffering people."

"Who says I can't do both?"

"One is a waste of time. I'll go back as soon as Itachi sees fit to send me off."

Hanabi scoffed. "Really? You're going to give up just like that, so easily? Are you really Sakura Haruno? I've never known her to be such a coward."

"Between coward or idiot, I'd rather be a coward. Call me whatever you want."

"You're not even going to try."

"It's too troublesome."

Hanabi huffed and marched across the room to stop in front of the doorway. Once there she turned back and glared hard. Sakura could see her pale blue eyes reflect in the quartz light. "Maybe you're too jaded to see the bigger picture here, but I'm not. An opportunity like this won't come around again."

Sakura didn't say anything, but watched the young girl leave.

* * *

The following day Hanabi and Sasuke went out looking for nearby blights while Itachi set to work commissioning the court astronomer for answers. He wanted to know what was the source of the blights. They were confident that an answer would revel itself in the far off stars before nightfall.

As king, Itachi also had other duties, but somehow he found the time to excuse himself and wander the palace until he discovered her.

Sakura hurried to bow but Itachi reached her first and caught her elbows, keeping her from lowering herself.

"You need not bow to anyone here," he told her.

"All the same, thank you for your hospitality." Sakura hesitantly bobbed her head then and Itachi sighed, but the smile was almost found as he allowed the gesture to go uncorrected.

"I am sorry to hear that you were unable to rest as well as I had hoped. Were the rooms not to your liking? We could bring in a softer mattress or more bedding."

Sakura laughed before she could catch herself, but covered her mouth with the rest of her palm to smother the sound, though there was little she can do to hide the amusement in her eyes. Itachi leaned into her space, expression concerned.

"I'm not laughing at you. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. You're being far too kind and offering more than I deserve. The room is lovely, don't change anything. It's just hard being in this world again after so long away."

"Why is that? Did you not once plan to dwell in this world?"

"Plans aren't always followed. Things…happened."

Itachi frowned but offered her his hand, guiding her down the halls as their conversation continued. "I'm sorry if I do not understand. Is this world unsatisfactory? Do you have bonds or family in your own world you can not leave?"

The question should have made her regretful, but Sakura answered honestly. "No, I'm alone now. There's nothing important keeping me there anymore."

"Yet you did not come here, why?"

Sakura chuckled dryly, cutting a sharp look sideways at the mouse king. "Do you think everyone gets what they want, or even knows what they want?"

"You don't know what you want?" He tugged her and they stopped in the hallway. Sakura half turned around to face Itachi fully before he continued. "Would you want to remain here, if there was a reason or a place for you?"

Sakura anticipated him offering her a place, based on how quick he was to see to her needs and cater to her wants. She wanted to quickly dismiss Itachi's question and say all she wanted was to go home, but the questions Hanabi raised from the night prior haunted Sakura's heart. She truly didn't know why Sasori couldn't take her back. For years all she had were her theories and her fears. But that could change if she took advantage of the situation.

"I'm here to help Hanabi. When she's done saving your people from the blight I'll figure out what I'll do," Sakura finally admitted.

"You sound like you don't know your heart well."

"I know few things well, Itachi."

He smiled openly at the sound of his name and Sakura worried she had overstepped some rule, but he didn't seem to mind. Sasuke had been younger, so even if he didn't like it, he hadn't corrected her on the road about his title or name.

"I want to show you something," Itachi said as he tugged her along. "Come with me."

Sakura didn't protest as he led her through the halls to a new room that felt warm before the grad door were even thrown open.

The hall is a grand ball room with chandelier dripping in dew lights and glimmer. There was glass lining the walls from floor to ceiling. Sakura turned in the room of mirrors and saw a dozen different versions of herself in pink silk with her hair pulled up high and pinned with swan feathers and pearls.

Sakura touched herself, feeling the new fabric of her dress, though only moments ago she had been in her otherworld clothes. Her dress was short enough to move in and kick with, like the ones she used to wear as a child, back when dreams of being a ballerina were plausible enough to sleep inside of. It rustled as she moved.

Sakura turned again and saw Itachi there, dressed handsomely in white and gold, like she remembered seeing Sasori. His long black hair was pulled back and braided with gold ribbon. At his side a saber rested, handsomely sheathed.

"What is this place?" she asked on a half formed breath of wonder.

Itachi didn't answer, instead he held out a single gloved hand to her and she meets it with her own as strings play a haunting melody her body knows the steps to. It almost made her heart pinch when she recognized the melody. It was a tune Sasori would have danced with her. One of her happiest memories was wrapped up in the melody.

Itachi lead her well and she fit nicely alongside his strong frame as they danced across the glass floor, alone and silent. He didn't ask her questions and he didn't make accusations when she started to softly cry. His hands didn't drag her wrists, his arms didn't grapple her form, his eyes didn't burn her away.

Sakura knew she wasn't a girl anymore, but she felt the way she felt when she was young and full of awe as she passes by a wall of mirrors and sees her glimmering reflection dancing by. She's lovely like she always wished she would be. She looked like a girl Sasori would run towards.

"Why do you show me this?" Sakura asked in a whisper so afraid to break the silence it's almost not audible.

"Why is this what you want?" Itachi countered. "I show only what is in your heart."

Sakura's eyes slid off his face to the mirrors and looked as one showed her the reflection of her dancing with a handsome redhead in place of Itachi. She's happy in the reflection and it's enough to make her heart shudder. A hall of magic mirrors.

"What the heart wants is not what the mind believes in," Sakura whispers, still too quiet to hear with great clarity. Itachi bent his head to catch her words better. "I've no hope for such a dream anymore. I've fallen too far from who I used to be."

The mirror darkened and is replaced by the reflection of Sakura in Itachi's arms, turning and spinning.

Sasori is gone.

"What is there to believe in?" Itachi asks her, watching things in the glass she can't see.

She doesn't doubt he sees things hidden in her heart. He's peeling her open and laying out her secrets to inspect and see. And if he had been the man she once loved she would have minded, but Sakura doesn't care for Itachi like she cared for Sasori, so she doesn't stop him.

There are more instruments and Itachi changes directions, picking her up and spinning before the steps change to a new dance she falls into easily. He dips her and she stretches her arms up above her head as his face comes closer to her own.

"I believe in you," he whispers in a voice both dark and deep. He lowers her further until she feels her hair, now loose, spill out around her on the wooden floor. He laid her down and trapped her with two hands on either side of her head. He leaned down and his eyes spun red again.

"Well, that makes one of us," Sakura chuckled, eyes heavy and bleary. He reached down to wipe away her tears, frowning at the stain they leave on his fingertips.

"I don't want to see you cry. Tell me how I can make this better for you."

Sakura breathed deep and turned away, onto her side. She pushed up off the floor and climbed to her feet. As she broke away from Itachi, the dress and slippers melted back into her old clothes. When she turned back he was in his clothes from before as well.

"Thank you. It was pleasant to dance again, and you are an agreeable partner," she said.

"Only agreeable?" He rose to his feet but didn't reach for her again, respecting her personal bubble.

"You would be surprised how difficult that is to find in a partner," she joked, wanting desperately to laugh again and shatter what was left of the awkward air between them. She didn't dance anymore, she threw her fists and raged against the world.

Itachi opened his mouth to say something more but the sound of frantic running made him pause. As a pair, Itachi and Sakura instead went to the door and saw the court astronomer running up the halls.

"Obito!" Itachi called.

At the sound of his name the court astronomer turned sharply and headed back down the hall to where they stood. Before he was eve close he started calling out.

"I've found it, I've found it, the source of the blight! I know where it comes from, my king!"

Itachi held up both palms to slow his distant cousin down, but Obito still panted when he stopped. "What have you discovered. You are frantic," Itachi said.

"I-I've found the source of the blight, and it is our old enemy indeed." Obito coughed and then straightened. "The source of the blight comes from the doll kingdom."

* * *

AN: And that's chapter 4!

Some of you may recognize the scene at the end in the hall of mirrors with Itachi, because yes, this is a rewrite of the Sugarplum story I tried writing last year. It was my attempt to write about my favorite holiday classic, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, but last year I lacked the time and energy to properly devote myself to such an undertaking. This year is different, and this year I'm actually really proud of how far I've come. I can see my growth, (with casts out some personal fears I have about my waning writing abilities.)

I know someone is gonna be mad about all these new stories, but they are both (mostly) finished and just seasonally released. Sugarplum has like, SIX chapters (with maybe a bonus epilogue), and should be done before January. Basically it's a personal challenge to update an old half finished fic with a more solid plot.


	5. Chapter 5

Sugarplum

* * *

An eternal winter had settled over the far reached kingdom of dolls, but considering its affinity with Christmas and the snowy season, no one suspected the change as nefarious. Trade continued normally, and commerce in and out of the city raised no eyebrows. But because of the mouse kingdom's past with the dolls, Itachi and his court hadn't looked too closely when issues concerning the blight first rose up.

That changed after Obito's discovery.

That night at dinner it had been a grand affair as every correspondence, every business transaction, every note of communication with Doll Nobility had been scrutinized, to conclude that nothing seemed amiss.

The Uchiha and the world travelers formulated a straightforward plan of travel and investigation over dinner and agreed that setting out in the morning would be most prudent. It would be at _least_ Three days on horseback before they could reach the neighboring lands.

All throughout dinner Sakura avoided the pointed looks Hanabi sent her way.

It seems her decision to investigate or not had been made for her. No matter what she felt on the situation, visiting her first love now seemed unavoidable.

"It'll be too flashy for two royals to visit, so we'll be in disguise," Sasuke explained.

"You don't think it's a bit too risky, to put both the ruling king and his heir in potential danger? What if something happened to both of you? What of your people?" Sakura asked, still avoiding the looks Hanabi kept sending her.

Itachi stapled his fingers before responding. "Unfortunately, if something isn't done then the fate of our people is already sealed. Sasuke and I both possess substantial magic that will no doubt be useful to you and your efforts. In addition we will travel with a cousin, Shisui, who will act as a guard."

"Any more than that and our party size would look suspicious," Sasuke added.

"I thought you said trade was good between the lands," Hanabi said, looking away from Sakura to Sasuke who sat across the table from her.

"It is, but we have no history, no contacts, and no great aliases," Itachi answered for his brother, much to Sasuke's ire. The way his younger brother ruffled at the interruption only seemed to delight Itachi further.

"And it'd be too difficult to pass ourselves as Candy citizen, who are known relations to the Doll Land people. Mouse kin will be met with greater scrutiny through no fault of their own, that's just how it is," Sakura added.

She glanced down at the gold color of her dinner plate, mostly obscured by the meat and bread that sagged heavy under its butter and seasonings. A portion of her face stared back up at her and she knew what she said would make sense once Hanabi saw the candy people. Living in the land of eternal sugar had most people staining themselves in shades of pastel to bled in better. She had always preferred the Land of the Dolls far more. Their company was softer.

"Your hair would help you pass," Sasuke chuckled, pointing across the table at Sakura who scowled.

"Sakura is competent where you are not. No need to cackle over it, Sasuke," Itachi interrupted. "It makes you sound droll."

The younger prince glowered but said nothing to his brother.

"Aside from the finer details, we are planned. I think I'll retire for one more good night of sleep before we set out at first light," Sakura said as she stood.

The cloth napkin from her lap nearly slipped free, but she caught it on reflex and tossed it back onto the table beside her plate. She felt bad about how much food she left untouched on her plate, but her stomach was all knots and she didn't know if she'd even be able to sleep that night, much less eat.

Itachi stood as was the polite thing to do, and Sasuke stood a delayed moment later. Both bobbed their heads her way and Sakura bobbed back before turning from the room. She felt Itachi's eyes on her back all the way down the hall until she turned off out of sight, but even then the hairs on the back of her next stood up.

She didn't sleep well, but somehow she managed to get enough rest to wake up in the morning. When she roused the sun was still sunken behind a horizon, and the day was not yet new. Few else were awake, but Sakura didn't mind. She readied herself just the same and was done before the mouse maids arrived to help her.

She stopped by Hanabi's room, but left as soon as she saw Hanabi still in her covers, wrapped up tighter than a burrito. The mouse maids would risk their lives to wake the young girl while Sakura sniffed out some breakfast for herself.

Sasuke was the last person she expected to find in the kitchen.

"Oh," she exclaimed softly to herself once she recognized the shape of his hair. He looked up at her from over the counter and she remembered to close her mouth, least she look too gobsmacked. "I didn't know anyone else was awake or out of bed. You're up early," she said.

"My brother antagonized me with his inability to sleep last night. I don't know if you could call this early," Sasuke grumbled. His tone was a bit more sour than usual, which was saying something.

"My condolences."

Sasuke huffed. "It seems you slept just fine. What? No rough night of contemplation? Not even a bit of tossing and turning? I thought you'd be more apprehensive but you seem just fine."

"Then it's a shame your skills of perception aren't more developed. I don't make this trip lightly. If it weren't for Hanabi-"

It was Sasuke's scoff that interrupted her. Sakura felt her ire rise.

"What is so funny?"

"You're not going for Hanabi, you're out for your own benefit. You're jealous of what Hanabi has going for her now. You're not the center of attention anymore and you're desperate to get back in."

Sakura thought Sasuke's red eyes especially cruel as the young prince smiled at her. She wanted to smack the look off his face, but he was just a kid, so she held the urges back. "That's absurd, even for a halfwit to consider. You don't know anything."

"It's the only thing I know. You don't think I've been inundated with the stories? Ugh, they make my stomach turn. True love nonsense and the like. What garbage."

Sakura wanted to pull back her lips and flash her teeth at him. It was primal, the anger she swelled with. How dare he speak to her in such a way. "You were hardly a thing to comprehend when the fighting happened. Tell me, where you old enough to talk yet? What would you know of what truly happened?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You did a fantastical thing. You helped liberate my country by killing my uncle, yes-yes. Thanks to you Itachi grew into his crown and throne and built us homes and castles above the earth where once we lived exclusively subterranean. The court thought he was only trying to imitate his rival the prince of the dolls, but I know my brother well enough to know he thought of his people first. You're credited with a lot but if you were really so great a person where did you go?"

His mocking turned sharp and wicked as his lips curled. The urge to smack him turned to ice in her veins and her once boiling blood was frozen. She stood, paralyzed across from him, pale and unspeaking.

Sasuke took her silence as his cut to ramble. "The great savior of our world? Vanished. Nothing is left of her. How odd? The Nutcracker can take and give between worlds as well as my brother, but he never took you back. He got his kingdom and you got to go home. So yeah, don't tell me you're here for Hanabi's sake. You're here to even your score with the wood piece."

"You think so little of me." Sakura felt as if her words were made of ice but they shattered against Sasuke's exterior. The young prince didn't seem to care for what sort of tone she adapted with him.

"Just leave Hanabi out of your petty, selfish decisions. I don't care if you're out manipulating my brother. Go off. I'll protect her on my own."

And he stormed out of the kitchens, leaving her alone with the fire from the stove and a mess. She swallowed and her throat scratched. Sasuke had left her wounded in more ways than one, so she took a handful of instead steps to the sink and drank what she could of the heavy water before feeling stung enough to go out again.

In the hallway she caught sight of the robes of the court astronomer and almost ignored them. But just as she was about to turn down the opposite hallway she turned on her heel and ran for Obito, catching him by the shoulder and spinning him around to slam into a wall. She twisted the fabric of his shirt with her fists and then pushed him up the wall so that his toes dangled.

"Sa-sa-Sakura!" he squeaked.

"You're not lying to us, are you?" she growled, eyes flashing with a pent up rage he didn't rightly deserve. "You were there, you know my history. You didn't lie to Itachi, did you?"

"I swear, I swear I didn't! It's the truth. The blight really is coming from the land of the dolls, I didn't lie about any of it!" he gasped, eyes wide with fear. One was glass and dead as it reflected her angry expression back at her.

"Swear it on Madara's corpse."

"I couldn't!"

"Swear it, or I'll burn off the other half of your face."

Obito's breath hitched but then he shakily agreed. "I swear it on the mad king's seven heads and seven crowns. I-please Sakura, I swear I tell you the truth. I didn't want to-I didn't think you'd be going with them."

Sakura felt the fear and anger abate. She moved back and Obito dropped down wall, sliding down the wall until he was on his feet again. He rubbed his neck under the collar of his shirt.

"You didn't know…but it was you who suggested I go with this group at dinner. Why?" Sakura asked instead, keeping her hands fisted at her sides. "You think I'll sabotage it?"

"You wouldn't. You love that girl, don't you?"

Obito's voice didn't waver, but it sounded faded and thin. She remembered just how old he was, and how when Sasori struck Madara down Obito had been there first, almost eager to pick up the blade until Sakura's fire taught him loss.

That was a lifetime ago.

"What does that have to do with it?"

Obito watched her through his too-long lashes. "She's the cure to all of this evil. You may not enjoy Sasuke or any of our kingdom as much as the land of dolls, but you're not a cruel person. You'll help her see this through."

"Did you stars tell you that?" she asked with almost a mock to her tone.

"Don't mock my science."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "If you say so. I guess I'll never know if you were a traitor or just plain stupid if we get to the land of the dolls and find nothing there."

"The stars did not lie to me. I know what I saw. The blight was born there and can only be stopped from there, at its heart. I also saw Hanabi will be the one to do it."

"So? That's the whole point of Sasuke bringing her here. I knew that part." Sakura turned and started to walk away, back the way she came.

Obito's words didn't stop her, but they made her hike her shoulders as she quickened her pace to put distance between him and her. "You still think you're a hero, but you need to not let those memories cloud your future. This isn't a war its a disease. You're not our hope anymore, it's her!"

Sakura found the caravan loading up with Shisui the guard and Sasuke already ready. Hanabi came a little after Sakura and was install waylaid by Sasuke while Itachi arrived last, surrounded by a couple of minsters clamoring for one last detail to be addressed before their king abandoned them on a 'foolish errand.'

"I trust you all slept well last night?" Itachi asked the whole group, though his eyes caught on Sakura's and stayed there.

"Well enough," Sakura answer, turning her back to him so she could climb up her mount and settle into the saddle.

Shisui needed to help Hanabi, though Sasuke tried to assist her fist-only to fail due to his lack of height. Sakura privately thought that was hilarious, but didn't snicker even though Itachi openly laughed at his brother.

They traveled together and made good time, crossing the bulk of the mouse kingdom lands during the first day after pushing their horses on. While riding there wasn't very much opportunity for conversation between the five of them, and Sakura was learning that Shisui was more a shadow than a person considering how little he talked. Sometimes she thought he wanted to, by the mischievous twinkling in his eyes, but he did too well a job at restraining himself.

Eventually, they settled in for the night, finding an abandoned mouse settlement underground with only a pair of houses built to be forgotten and left alone. Outside the soil smelled like black licorice and the trees dripped with off-white candy floss.

"The ladies may rest in the nicer abode," Itachi instructed, glancing between the two near identical structures.

"Which one is that?" Hanabi asked. She glanced back at Sakura and then at Itachi before raising her eyebrows in encouragement. "You have an idea, Sakura?"

Itachi smiled and turned towards her, eager to hear her reply.

"This one is just as good as that one, I think," Sakura answered around a yawn, pretending she didn't notice the extra attention. She nodded to the closest house and started to move towards it.

"Very well then. We will have dinner ready shortly if you would like to join us," Itachi offered.

Sasuke started to grumble under his breath.

"You don't need to do something like that!" Hanabi exclaimed. "We should help too. You must be just as tired as we are."

Sasuke perked up and put on a dashing face. "It's not a bother to us. We have excellent stamina and are used to cooking. Itachi had to do it when he was younger and I just learned because it's good to know. I'll make your dinner, Hanabi, don't resist the offer."

"And I think a simple soup is not nearly impressive enough to merit such concern. We'll be done with hardly any effort." Like before, Itachi watched her when he spoke.

Sakura didn't want to admit the way he watched her was unsettling, but if Hanabi was even noticing them, Sakura thought that maybe Itachi was being a bit too obvious with his attentions.

His hero worship wasn't deserved. It was an old sentiment from his boyhood that chased him into adulthood and Sakura was ready for him to outgrow it before he made her feel any worse. When he looked at her he didn't see the nearly thirty year old adult with barely any savings, a crappy job, and a useless pre-med degree that only ended her up in more debt that she could hope to survive. He saw a hero. Sakura wasn't that anymore.

"We'll thank you for the soup now, your highness, but we'll insist on doing the cooking tomorrow night. It's only fair," Sakura said.

Itachi frowned at her formal use of his title, but when Hanabi asked Sasuke what he liked Itachi lost his chance to seize the moment. Sakura instead bowed politely and disappeared into he first house to unpack and find something soft to rest on.

It was dark inside but not dark enough that she couldn't see where she was going, so she didn't stop to search for a light or make one herself. The furniture was still mostly intact and she found an empty bedroom on the second floor with an empty bed in the first room she explored.

"Sakura!"

Hanabi was in the next door room and Sakura ran there, ushered by the frantic tone to Hanabi's cry. She stopped short when she saw the blackened body frozen in a strangled pose just outside the bed, still half tangled in the sheets.

But that wasn't as important as Hanabi, crouched on the floor, gasping as something dark started to spread across her palm. There was blight on the walls and door, near impossible to spot in the dim.

"Sakura," Hanabi chocked, hyperventilating as the black spot spread. "What-wha-what?"

Sakura grabbed Hanabi's wrist and pulled the girl back so Hanabi's chest hit Sakura's front. Like a child, Sakura held Hanabi.

Sakura rocked Hanabi, remembering the rhythm of a sway that would sooth children. " _Breath_ , calm down. You can purify yourself. You can do this."

"It's spreading."

"Don't worry about that," Sakura said, even as the veins of dark blight started to creep down Hanabi's palm to her wrist, where Sakura gripped her tightly. Sakura remained blight-free, in spite of the contact.

There were tears on Hanabi's face and her voice sounded wet. "I-I'm trying."

"Listen to the sound of my voice then. Feel the well of magic deep in your belly. It's an ocean, it's vast, and its yours. It wants to move and be used, it is never still, feel it sway and ebb. The waves roll through you. Call upon them."

Hanabi closed her eyes and leaned her head back. The shivering abated but the blight still spread up her hand. Sakura didn't let go.

"Now what?"

"You need to love yourself now. You love others so easily, and that is how you heal them. Love yourself and save yourself." Sakura caught herself before she could say anything else. ' _If you don't love yourself, then one day there will be no one there to warm you. You must learn to stoke the fire yourself_.'

Hanabi's lips parted and she inhaled. The light began under her skin and the blight froze in place. Sakura watched as the darkness broke up and Hanabi's hand was washed clean in glittering light. With an exhale Hanabi sagged back against Sakura and the room went dim again.

"Let's get you out of here. I'm taking you back out and I'll take a light to explore the rest of the house," Sakura suggested.

Hanabi, still in Sakura's lap, looked up and blinked. "You helped me again."

"Of course." Sakura tugged Hanabi up and guided her out of the room back to the stairs.

"Was there someone there for you when you were here, when you were in charge of saving people?" Hanabi asked.

'No.'

"That's not important right now, we need to tell the others before they run into more of the same. You wanna bet that other house is just as bad?"

Sakura grinned and left Hanabi in the living room to dash out and cross the street. She could hear the brothers and Shisui somewhere inside, but she didn't stop until she could see both Itachi and Sasuke. The sounded almost jovial with each other but that cut short when Sakura stepped in.

"Hold up, there's a body in the other house, touched by blight. There may be more." Sakura glanced around. "Where's Shisui?"

"Upstairs," Itachi answered. He was already setting down the knife and vegetables to hurry upstairs but Sakura was faster. The house had the same layout but instead of just one body in a bedroom, there were two in the first and far more blighted stains on the floor and walls.

"Hanabi!" Sakura screamed as loud as she could, tackling Shisui to the ground to wrestle him into place as a blight spread across his body.

'Of course the one who gets hit is the strong guard who's super ripped,' Sakura thought sarcastically to herself as her arms burned from the strain. Shisui struggled and thrashed in uncoordinated, unpredictable patterns. A sharp elbow almost hit her in the face, but it grazed off and dented the rotten floor behind her ear.

' _Brilliant_.'

"Shisui!" Sasuke called, sounding worried. It wasn't the same worry as from before when he saw other blights. Shisui was his cousin and a person he knew.

"Stay back, get Hanabi!" Sakura screamed.

Sasuke stayed on the stairs though transfixed.

Shisui roared and rolled back, crushing Sakura under him. It was enough o break free. He started to charge at Sasuke but Sakura caught Shisui by the ankle and tugged him down. Shisui's face smacked against the floor and Sakura scrambled to climb on top of him and lock him up in a sleeper hold.

The blight hardened his skin and made him difficult to hold onto, but Sakura knew better. If Shisui got free and went crazy he might reach Hanabi before she had a chance to purify him. She was still learning how to use her powers and lacked the confidence to use them at the drop of a hat.

"I'm here!" the girl in question called out, approaching the doorway.

"I've got him, mostly," Sakura grunted, readjusting her hold when Shisui nearly slipped free. "Hurry!"

It wasn't much longer before the whole room was filled with light. The brightness spread from Hanabi and cleaned the walls, polished the floors clean, and washed over all of them. The black stains over Shisui's body broke up and were wiped away as everything from door to window was swallowed in white light.

Sakura shut her eyes and felt the man go limp under her.

When the light abated Sakura let go and crawled backwards off Shisui in time for Sasuke to rush in and grab for his cousin, calling out his name again and again. Itachi watched from the doorway with a hand on Hanabi's shoulder.

"Ugh, kid, I said I'm fine!" Shisui groaned, shoving Sasuke free.

Sakura crawled back and rested against the wall, watching as Shisui stood to face Hanabi and his king. The solider lowered himself onto his knees and thanked them both profusely. Sasuke eventually broke in, cheering about how amazing Hanabi was before reminding Shisui that he was supposed to be the one protecting them, not putting them in danger.

"If it makes up for it I'll help with the dinner," Shisui offered, blushing and avoiding Sasuke's eyes as the younger boy bounced back and forth in excitement.

"An excellent idea," Itachi said while stepping aside. "You all go ahead, I will join you shortly. Hanabi, will you make sure they don't get into too much trouble?"

"Of course," Hanabi sighed fondly. She followed Sasuke and Shisui down, leaving only Itachi and Sakura behind.

Once they were alone Itachi approached her side and knelt down, expression dower. "Are you alright?" he asked softly.

Sakura huffed and reached up to comb her hair back with her fingers. It was a mess but she didn't care as much. Itachi had seen her messy before. He should be used to it by now. "Fine. The blight doesn't do anything to me."

"I didn't mean the blight. He threw you horribly. You're already starting to bruise." His eyes were soft as he watched the color pooling under her skin along her temple.

"You would laugh if I told you what I did for a living," Sakura chuckled. "This isn't a big deal. Shisui is safe, right?"

"I have some salves. Let me treat this," Itachi said, gesturing to her head bruise and then her arms, where friction burns still glowed red with speckles of blood from where Shisui dragged her across the floor too fast.

Stiffly Sakura nodded and let him tug her up onto her feet.

One of the rooms downstairs was actually a third bedroom where Itachi had left his things. He gestured for her to wait on the bed while he dug in his pack for what he needed. A moment later he crouched in front of her with a white container that smelled like flowers and mountain air.

The cream didn't sting on her bruises, but the friction burns were a different matter. Sakura bit her lip to hold back the hiss and Itachi nearly detracted his hands in response.

"It's fine," Sakura sighed. "It's okay if it stings a little. I guess that's a good sign."

"I didn't want to hurt you."

"You didn't."

Hesitantly, Itachi applied the cream again and this time Sakura kept her expressions even and hidden. It still stung, but nothing she couldn't ignore. If anything, his touch made her want to pull away more. Sometimes when she looked at him it was hard for her to breath.

"Thank you."

She glanced down, looking at Itachi's downturned face as he treated her friction burns. "It was nothing. You don't need to thank me for Shisui. I was happy to help."

"I do need to thank you. I still haven't made up for the last time you saved me and my family." Itachi's fingers were drawing small, slow circles in the cream over her skin.

Sakura remembered a skinny prince, eyes full of fear as the army fell apart without Madara there to lead them. She couldn't remember what happened next very well, but she remembered leaving with the feeling that the mouse prince she and Sasori had left Madara's crowns with being a good fit. It hadn't mattered that much to her at the time what the Mose Kingdom did next, even though some of the dolls wanted to push back the mice more.

"I don't remember doing anything too outstanding. Don't worry about it." Her cheeks heated, betraying her emotions. Sakura turned her face away and listened to the far off sounds coming from the kitchen. Sasuke was complaining about no fresh tomatoes or something equally silly.

"Does anyone else ever thank you anymore?"

"That's a silly thing to tank a person for so many years later."

"I'm here now. I'm alive today because of you. I should thank you today. If I'm alive tomorrow it's also thanks to you, so I'll thank you tomorrow."

Sakura felt her lips tug down. "Please don't. That could get annoying." Her lips were dry but she felt like she couldn't lick them. Itachi watched her too intently.

"All my days down because of how you saved me back then. Did you ever wonder where my mad uncle got his seven crowns? Did you ever consider where he might get his eight and ninth ones?"

Sakura went still. "That… no, I didn't know."

Itachi nodded and looked down at the cream he was apply a bit too slowly. "It's an open secret in the royal courts. Madara devoured his brother and his sons, his nephews and even my father before he went to kill the nutcracker. I was too small to devour. String bean, remember?" Those were her words and she recognized them well. "I abstained from food and drink to delay his devouring of me, but I knew it would happen one day."

Itachi's fingers stilled in the cream on her arm. He didn't look up and she couldn't see his eyes through the thick cover of his lashes. It was a moment more of stillness before he spoke again.

"You saved more than just my kingdom that day. Forgive me, but I'll always be grateful to you for not only saving my life, but saving Sasuke and giving us the power and authority to raise up our people from old and savage ways. I know it was a long time ago, and that the world has moved on to new saviors and heroes, but you'll always be my savior."

Itachi finished and left her with those thoughts, closing the door behind him to give her privacy.

* * *

AN: I thought I posted this yesterday! Sorry it's late guys!


	6. Chapter 6

Sugarplum

* * *

They stopped somewhat frequently on the road to investigate rumors of blight and, on occasion, have Hanabi purify a people or place. It should have only taken three, maybe four, days of straight travel but it was a week later when they eventually arrived on the outskirts of the Candy Kingdom's boarders with the Kingdom of the Dolls.

Sakura and Hanabi would dress themselves up as dolls in pretty long dresses and bonnets, pretending to be visiting the candy lands before returning back to the own country. The Uchiha would attempt to dress themselves up as dolls in the pretty red, white, gold, and blue uniforms so many toy soldiers wore.

Sakura watched herself in the mirror, turning her head one way and then the other. She was dressed as a shepherdess with a white bone crook longer than Hanabi and a pale pink dress embroider with flowers along the collar. When she turned fast enough the folds lifted up and away, exposing ankle and plenty of leg.

With her face washed and the simple make up applied she looked like a different person. It was a familiar feeling. Before recitals and performances she and the girls would gather around the mirror and check each other for smudges and crooked eyeliner.

"We should do," Hanabi sighed, looking at her own pretty reflection. She was dressed as a simple hand doll with a blue striped dress and a white apron to match her bonnet.

"Should we check in with the boys and see how they managed?" Sakura asked, reaching to fix the bow at the base of Hanabi's back. It needed fluffing.

"I suppose so," Hanabi grumbled. "I think I look more like a child than I did before."

Sakura grinned down at the younger girl before pinching on of Hanabi's cheeks. Hanabi squeaked and slapped Sakura's hand away then huffed, pouting her lips.

"It's your cheeks, they're so baby fat and full, I can't help it," Sakura lamely protested, not really meaning a word of it.

"I don't like it," Hanabi complained. "I'm not a kid anymore."

Sakura felt like snorting but held it in. "You keep telling yourself that, oh mighty savior."

Hanabi grabbed the railing to the stairs but glanced sideways at Sakura while they descended, watching for a reaction. "What, jealous?"

Before Sakura had the chance to respond with another joke Hanabi froze on the stairs. Sakura turned and looked back up at Hanabi, a single brow raised. "Hanabi? Is something wrong?"

Hanabi's eyes were wide. "S-sorry. I didn't mean to say that. I shouldn't have said that. Sasuke said you'd be sensitive to it, I'm sorry!"

Sakura wanted to joke some more, but she settled on a tired sigh paired with an even older smile than the one she was used to wearing. "Hanabi, its okay. I'm not sensitive to something like that, don't worry. Sasuke's just paranoid, and beside, I already had my time to shine. That stuffs not important to me anymore."

"But I'm your friend, and I said something mean."

"You were joking."

"Did you take it as a joke?" Hanabi asked with a held breath.

"Of course I did. How else? Now, come one, its time to go."

Sakura took another step, turning her back to Hanabi, but had to stop herself when she felt a tug on her wrist. Hanabi was there, looking misty eyed, startling Sakura.

"Hanabi, it's not a big deal. What are you getting upset for? Are you okay?" Worry crept into Sakura's voice as she turned towards the younger girl.

"I need you."

Sakura could only blink for how confused she was. "Hanabi?"

"I mean-I've only been able to do what I can because of how you believed in me and guided me. I know you said it wasn't a lot, but you don't know what it means to me to have you there, talking me through when it gets scary. You're so strong. You're not frightened of anything and you never back down and I notice that, even if the other people don't. Did you know I felt this way?"

Sakura hadn't, but that wasn't surprising. Sakura had thought little of Hanabi's feelings apart for the girl's obvious infatuation with the young mouse prince, which annoyed Sakura more so because of how familiar it seemed. She hadn't considered how else Hanabi might think of anything or anyone else.

"No, I guess I didn't think of it. I'm sorry." Sakura reached out and brushed back one of Hanabi's bangs. "But I'm glad to hear you feel supported. I'll be there for you, as long as you have need of me, I'll help you thought this."

"I'm sorry I teased you."

"Sasuke has said meaner things."

Hanabi's eyes went wide. "You didn't hit him for it, did you?"

Sakura snorted. "I wanted to, but his pretty face is his only redeeming quality I can identify, so I thought better about ruining it for you."

"Sasuke is more than just a pretty face…but thank you. I should tell him to be nicer. You could probably kill him with your biceps alone."

Sakura tugged the girl down the rest of the stairs. "Among other things."

The pair dissolved into giggles and that's how the Uchiha boys found them.

Sakura saw Sasuke as he ran up first and than Shisui. The pair matched in royal blue uniforms trimmed in gold which was all the rage for foot soldiers in any boy's toy cabinet it seemed. Itachi came up behind them a bit later and Sakura stopped to stare.

Itachi wore a pure white uniform trimmed in gold to match the medals across his chest. A soldiers cap was tucked under his arm and his hair was tied back in a neat ponytail that made the shape of his face a little sharper, a little more regal.

Sakura forced herself to swallow and avert her eyes least she be caught staring. The moment she looked away she felt his gaze settle on her like a brand of heat and it only made it harder for her to breath. When his shadow fell over her she lifted her eyes.

"You look as charming as an angel," he teased affectionately.

"I'm a shepherdess, actually," Sakura breathed, finding the bodice suddenly too restrictive.

It was silly. She wasn't a teenager anymore, or some silly girl with a school sized crush, but here she was getting bothered by the sight of Itachi…again. She hated to admit it, but this wasn't the first time she had been surprised with how Itachi made her feel.

"It's an acceptable disguise, but we will be late if we don't leave soon," Sasuke urged, already folding Hanabi's arm through his.

"The train," Shisui explained, opening the door to the inn for them.

Itachi tugged Sakura's arm forward and then folded it under his, pinning her to his side as he fit his cap back in place. When he caught her looking up he winked and then led her forward. She had a terrible, sinking, suspicion that he knew she had been staring.

The group found the station where a brilliant fire engine red locomotive, like the kind children would beg for to set up under the Christmas tree, waited in the station to take passengers into the land of the dolls.

With luck on their side, the group avoided suspicion and the train departed on time. They found a car mostly empty and slid into seats facing each other to wait out the long ride from one region to the next. Most of the people they passed were either from the Doll Kingdom or the Candy Kingdom. Occasionally someone from the Mouse Kingdom or the Land of Music might show up in the crowd, but they were few and far in between.

The train slipped through a tunnel that stretched the darkness for long minutes and when it emerged again the land was soft white and gold with the air of Christmas thick. Several dolls cooed and raced to the windows to be the first to see their country.

"That's it?" Hanabi breathed, pressing as close to the window as she could, squishing Sasuke against the glass. He didn't seem to mind too much.

"That's it," Itachi confirmed. "It's a bit chillier than I remember it. Sakura?"

"Yeah," she dully echoed, not really knowing what she was agreeing with.

She recognized the squares of houses, the winding roads, the swell of hills dotted with sugar spun sheep. Her chest was being crushed as more and more of the world flashed by. She couldn't breath.

It was Itachi who grabbed her elbow and shook her, just enough to grab her attention. She glanced up and saw his eyes spinning with concern, dark black with a sheen of red hidden deep in their depths. The magic there sparked something in her and she jerked back.

"I'm fine," Sakura insisted. "Thanks. I was just…lost in thought."

Itachi's face went soft as he knelt down in the aisle next to her seat and rested his hand on her armrest, close to hers but not close enough to touch. "You remember."

She could barely breath but she inhaled and then exhaled out the words. "I _remember_."

 _The victory carriage was gold and heavy but the bears that dragged it were strong and willing. Each little village turned itself out to get a glimpse of their future king and queen, driving through the lands in celebration of their liberation. Sakura wore the crowns of the mouse king on her arms and Sasori wore a smile so wide and bright Sakura almost thought it couldn't possibly fit._

 _"My lady, my lady!"_

 _Sakura turned to the sound of the child and leaned out over the edge of the carriage. A child in a bonnet held up a single flower, mostly limp but still large and beautiful in its last hours. Sakura laughed in delight at the offering and reached to accept it, even as someone made a comment about showing 'proper' appreciation._

 _Sakura grabbed the stem and the bright red rose swelled with new life, growing in size and vibrance from the touch of her fingers. The crowd gasped and Sasori laughed, pulling Sakura back to his side to hold around the waist while the people cheered for her miracle._

 _"Delight of my life, look at you," he chuckled before kissing her cheek._

 _"It matches the color of your hair, my prince."_

 _"Then pray keep it close to your heart."_

 _Sakura giggled but brushed her nose down the side of his face before whispering in his ear. "I need not do that. My heart is already so full of you." Sakura pulled back and looked up at her prince. "And once I am older we'll never need to part again. We'll be together forever."_

 _Sasori's breath caught. "Forever?"_

 _"Of course."_

 _He kissed a lock of her hair. "I promise it then. We will be together forever."_

Sakura closed her eyes and when she opened them again Sasori was gone but Itachi was just as close. He looked ready to lean in and ask her something with a whisper but Sakura brushed past him, standing from her seat and exiting into the aisle.

"I'm going to take a short walk, I'll be back," she rushed to explain through a stretched thin smile. No one stopped her as she turned and trotted off.

She stood in the next car between a pair of jesters looking out the window and cheering to each other about the lovely sight. More dolls passed around her, along with candy people. After a moment Sakura moved on. The next car on the train was full of mostly the same. People were cheery and happy at the sought outside their window.

No one seemed nervous or apprehensive about the possibility of blight.

Fear stirred in her heart. Had they wasted their trip? Had Obito sent them off on a wild goose chase in revenge? Was the blight really in the land of the doll people?

She turned sharply to run back to her car when a sight stopped her short. Slowly she turned back around and stepped around a Chinese Emperor doll to see a figure in black and purple sitting still in his seat, watching the world with a blank expression. In his hands was a wrap of leather she recognized well. If it were to be unrolled she would find carving tools for wood working no doubt.

The train curved and Sakura saw the station coming into view, still far off.

She rushed back to her car, ducking to avoid the eyes of other dolls and candy people. Hanabi saw her coming first and got up, but Sakura looked over her head to Itachi.

"I saw Kankuro."

Sasuke looked to his brother in curiosity, seeing how Itachi went stiff at the name.

"Where?" Itachi asked, already standing.

"Two cars up. He's alone."

Itachi glanced over at Sasuke and Shisui. "We should move up and get ready to disembark. Sakura, he might recognize either you or I. Sasuke is also a dead ringer for our family so Hanabi, it will have to be you who leads this."

Hanabi squeaked. "Me?"

"We will all be behind you, but you'll need to trail him first," Sakura explained. "Kankuro is the prince here, he's Sa-the Nutcracker's brother. If we follow him we might find the source of the blight. There's no other evidence of anything being wrong in this kingdom."

"Is there a reason you can't just walk up to him and ask him to take you to your nutcracker?" Hanabi asked, raising a single brow in question.

"It is better this way," Itachi cut in. "Please, we are rapidly approaching our destination. Two cars up." He gestured with his hand and stood to give her more room to move around him.

Hanabi huffed, but nodded to Sakura before taking point.

The train swelled with body clamoring to get off first, but Kankuro didn't seem to be in a rush, making things easier for them. Hanabi moved up first, then Sasuke would be more easily overlooked, before Shisui and then Sakura and Itachi. Sakura has the greatest chance of being recognized so she had to hang back, even though she knew the layout of the country best out of all of them.

Once upon a time she thought the Kingdom of the Dolls would be hers, after all.

Kankuro kept to the main roads for a while before leaning off to the side and slipping down a narrow street. Hanabi followed faithfully and the rest of her tail did as well. It wasn't long before Sakura recognized the way they were going.

"He's heading back to the Marzipan Castle," Sakura said to Itachi.

"A back way?"

Sakura nodded. "Sasori showed it to me for when I wanted to slip back without being noticed by the people. It's a secret just for the royal family." She swallowed and tried on a new smile. "Do you have something like that back home?"

Itachi nodded slowly. "I should have showed it to you while we were there. If you ever make it back I'll show it to you."

The implication made her feel funny. "I don't…"

Itachi tugged her closer. "I don't expect you to want to come back with me, but you'll always be welcome. Always."

"I was going to go back right after this is dealt with," she confessed.

"Right back?"

Sakura bowed her head, hoping her bonnet would help her hide her betraying features. "Yeah. I've been here too long as it is. I should really head back."

Itachi was quiet for a while before he spoke again, and somehow he sounded so much younger. "Do you have anyone new to return to?"

"No, just my responsibilities."

More silence stretched between them as Kankuro disappeared one last time, leaving Hanabi and Sasuke frantic in an empty courtyard, searching for where the man could have gone. Shisui waited, glancing back at his cousin and Sakura with a sorry expression.

"I think we lost him," Shisui explained.

"It's fine," Sakura interrupted.

The courtyard was empty but the snow barely touched the cobblestone floor to betray Kankuro's steps. There was a false space between two walls, perfectly carved to appear as though no space exited between them. Once Sakura found it and showed it to the others, they were all able to take up a single file into the heart of the castle.

Near the end of the passage Hanabi almost staggered. Sasuke caught her and made the rest of them stop while she panted from the effort.

"Is something wrong, Hanabi?" Sasuke asked.

"Blight…I can't…I can smell it here, its so strong."

Sakura shouldn't have felt relieved, but the fact that they were on the right track was at least reassuring.

"It seems you found out. Too bad."

Shisui jumped to the front and braced in front of Sasuke and Hanabi while everyone flinched at the new voice. Kankuro stood at the end of the hall and he had a carving pike in his hand. The expression on his face was a cool mask in comparison to how it had been when Sakura last saw him.

"You, you know about the blight?!" Sasuke accused over Shisui's shoulder.

"It shouldn't be known at all," Kankuro huffed. He lifted the spike. "I can't let you leave."

There was no evidence of blight on him, but Sakura couldn't recognize the Kankuro in front of her from the one she remembered so many years ago. He had once been so happy, so silly, so bad at jokes.

Kankuro dashed forward first and Shisui was ready, but Sakura didn't wait like Shisui did. She met Kankuro head on and flipped him hard and then pinned him down. Her dress tore and her bonnet tumbled free as he struggled, but the moment her pink hair fell free she felt him go stiff under her.

"Sa-Sakura?"

She pulled back and sat up, staring down at him with dirt on her face. She could hear the others rushing up behind her but she didn't turn back, fixing Sasori's brother in a stare that showed just how much she had grown up.

"Kankuro. Take me to him."

When she moved back he stood and scrambled to his feet. The carving tool was left behind in the dust, forgotten as he tripped over his own feet to run fast enough down the hall. Sakura didn't let him get far before she was on his heels, running just as fast with the rest of the group behind her. Once or twice Hanabi had to pause and walk because of how the air reeked, but Sasuke held her up and carried her when she couldn't move and Itachi didn't tease him for that.

The room opened up to a wooden hallway that twisted some more before Kankuro at last led them to a set of doors left open. Inside it was dim with only half the lights lit but Sakura recognized the old dance hall, the smaller one they had outgrown and improved with a newer, nicer one at the front of the castle. The room Kankuro led her into was one where children learned how to dance.

Temari sat in a chair by the door looking haggard but almost stood when she saw Kankuro. The sight of Sakura behind him made her fall back into her seat, mouth slack and eyes wide.

Sakura barely noticed.

The last figure in the room turned away from the wall and stilled. He wasn't the boy she left behind but he was still her Sasori, grown up and filled out. His face as still soft but the baby fat was gone. He was taller too, and she guessed if she were to stand beside him she'd have to look up.

His eyes twinkled like amber jewels at the sight of her and he smiled. He smiled at her, for her. She felt her heart break, fix, and break again as he turned the rest of the way around and lifted his arms to her. His lips moved and she knew he said her name but she couldn't hear anything.

He turned and the blight came into view. Where his heart should have been a black stone throbbed. The black veins were subtle under his skin, but she saw them.

" _No_."

He looked ready to walk towards her but flinched at her voice. His smile sagged and his brows furrowed. "Sakura?" he called in a voice that had aged into soft velvet. "It's me, your prince."

"Sasori, what have you done?" She breathed, holding herself by the elbows as her legs quivered. "What happened to you?"

"Sakura, you don't have to be afraid. We'll live together like this. We'll live forever. Remember our promise?"

The black veins pulsed with dark energy and even Sakura could feel it.

"Sakura?"

Sasori frowned at the new voice and this time Sakura turned to see Hanabi, Sasuke, and the others crossing the threshold into the room. Hanabi's face was pale but her eyes were glassy and wide and saw everything.

"The heart of the blight," Sasuke whispered to her.

"You," Sasori boomed, raising his chin and glaring, "we do not know you. You are not welcome here. Leave us."

"No, Sasori, they're with me. They brought me here." Sakura moved to stand between her friends and the redhead. "Sasori, we came to save you."

He smiled fondly at her and crossed the room to stand right in front of her. Like she thought he was a head taller than her now. But so close, even she could smell the rot from the blight, strong than anything else she and Hanabi had encounters.

Sasori reached out to touch her but Sakura pulled back, flinching. The hurt flashed across his features, blowing his eyes wide.

"Sakura, it's me. I-it's your nutcracker. Don't you recognize me?"

"Sasori, you're sick." She took a half step back and he matched it. "We came to help you. To remove the blight."

"No, you don't need to do that. It's fine. I'm fine, see. I'm well and I'll live forever like this. We can be immortal here in my kingdom at last. I-I meant to bring you to me once it seeded but…when was that…?" Sasori voice drifted and something foggy passed in front of his eyes before he looked back to her, lids drooping. "It's no matter. You're here now. Ahhh, you loved me so much you couldn't wait until I was ready, could you?"

Sakura felt sick. She didn't know how she was still standing. She loved him. She loved Sasori so much and all that love came rushing back so fast and so hot it burned her up on the inside. She felt like she was dying. He loved her and hadn't rejected her. He meant to bring her back. She just hadn't waited long enough. He still loved her. She hadn't been foolish.

But….

She reached out for him, stretching her arms until she could feel the royal gold braiding across his chest. The blight didn't touch her even though her hand was right over his heart. She felt her legs quiver and she had to fist her hands into the fabric of his uniform to stay upright.

 _'She's the only one I want to live for. If I can't have her by my side I'd rather be a wooden doll left in the dirt to rot._ '

"You did this, so we could be together forever," Sakura laughed, feeling the tears on her face.

"Of course," Sasori answered. "You're the one, the only one, that matters."

Sakura found her strength and stood up, bracing with her weight before shoving Sasori far across the room, as far as she could shove him. He staggered and fell, but she advanced to shove him back again.

"You're. Not. Him!" Sakura bit out with every shove and jab. He fell down hard and roll out just in time to miss her swipe at him. "MY prince would never say those words. He wept for his people and pitied the enslaved mouse kin. He was kind and soft and gentle and NEVER would have done this!"

Sasori's eyes bled black and he caught her next fist. His features warped and more of those black veins broke out. "He might not want to fight you, but I've not qualms," Madara hissed from the darkness pooling in Sasori's mouth.

"Uncle?!" Itachi exclaimed. "How?"

"Immortality is a tempting fruit." Sasori jerked his head back to look at Sakura. "Foolish girl. You thought you magic could undo me? Might can not cast out might. You were never strong enough."

Sasori snapped Sakura's wrist back and she felt it break, but the instant she cried out in pain he dropped her and staggered back, eyes flickering between black and brown. Sakura groaned in pain and held her wrist close freezing him in place.

Someone called out her name and Sasori looked up to see who was running towards them. He snarled and his eyes flickered between the two colors before he raised his hand and shot a stream of concentrated blight right at Hanabi. Saskue pushed the girl out of the way and the wall was the only casualty but everyone was frantic and running for the non existent cover.

"Get away from us," Sasori snarled.

Sakura shambled to her feet, ignoring the sting from her wrist with the help of some adrenaline. She ran for Hanabi and got to her in time to shield the girl with her shoulder from another strike of blight.

"It doesn't do anything to me," Sakura grunted, turning around and putting her back to Hanabi, facing Sasori. "Give him up, Madara. You're done for this time."

The black eyes came back and Sasori cackled with Madara's voice. "Angel, I've got five more lives after you end this one. You think it will be so easy? Strike me down with you blade and I'll just rise back up."

"I didn't say _I_ was the one who was going to end you."

Madara made a face of disgust. "My blight can end her just as well."

Sakura had one good hand and she raised it, bracing against a new torrent of scratching blight with the heel of her palm. It didn't stung but the pressure nearly forced her back.

"Hanabi, it's up to you now!" Sakura screamed over her shoulder as the blight began to chirp and shriek. "I couldn't do it. All I had was a sword. You're more than that, so purify him," there were tears running down her face as she screamed, " _please_!"

Hanabi settled her hands against Sakura's back and then the world began to glow. The deep and buried magics within Sakura bubbled and roared to the surface.

Sakura felt her body glow with light. The break in her wrist healed and the rest of her dress melted away, replaced by shifting layers of gold chiffon and white silk. Her hair was gathered up and held in place be a familiar weight as the rest of her body changed into the sugarplum fairy's uniform from so many years ago. It wasn't like the costume she danced in, but it was what her magic made for her to fight in.

Hanabi's magic well up inside of her and Sakura let herself sink down low so that the younger girl had her shot. Hanabi had been transformed by her magic in a different way, glittering in soft blues and purples. Hanabi spread back her arms and the room went white.

Madara screamed somewhere and everything else burned away. The light went on forever, stretching out of the castle, penetrating walls and surfaces as it cleansed the lands from end to end. The light when on forever…until it didn't.

Sakura sagged as the room returned to normal and everyone cheered. Hanabi kissed Sakura before she was pulled away by Sasuke and dipped into something a little more passionate. Shisui laughed and tried to stop them along with Itachi. Kankuro ran off to tell someone and Tamara wept gratefully into her arms, finally free from blighted stains.

Sakura pulled herself up and stumbled across the floor to where Sasori lay. His uniform was beautiful, apart from the hole where his heart should have been, he looked like an angle caught in sleep.

"Sasori," Sakura whispered, bending over him and touching his face. He was still warm, but barely.

He stirred at her touch and opened his eyes and it was like the first time seeing her. He gasped and reached up with his hands to hold her face as she pulled herself closer.

"Sakura, you came! Oh, you're all grown up. How did you-did you come back before I could call you? Sakura? Sakura! You're crying!"

"I love you," she sighed between the tears. "I always loved you."

Sasori's memories caught up with him and he gasped, realizing what he had done. He pushed up on his hands and groaned, seeing the hole in his chest where only a fraction of his heart remained. Madara had nearly devoured him. There wasn't enough left to keep Sasori alive much longer.

"How long did you wait for me?" he asked falling into her lap.

Sakura rested his head atop her thighs and bent over so he could stare up into her face. She tried to wipe away as many tears as possible, but some still fell onto his cheeks.

"That's not important now. I'm sorry I lost my faith. I-I'm sorry I thought you abandoned me."

The suggestion made his face twist. "I would never! Sakura, I would-I never meant to make you feel so sad. I'm sorry, so sorry. I've done something unforgivable. Oh, _Sakura_." He reached up to cup the side of her face and she held his hand in place when it shivered against her skin.

"It's enough, you didn't forget me. I love you Sasori."

"I…I didn't get enough time with you, but I wanted all of time with you."

"I know," she whispered peacefully.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura."

"I know."

His eyes were franticly cataloging every aspect of her face, thirsty for all he could get of her. "I didn't grow up like I should have. I-I never meant for any of this to happen."

"I know."

"I-I love you so much," he choked, breathily heavily as the front of white uniform stained red. What was left of his heart was beating too rapidly. "Sakura!"

"I know," she gasped, unable to say anything more.

She leaned down and kissed him, hungry and selfish for all of him almost as much as he was for all of her. He kissed her back and it was with the last of his strength that he rose up to hold her. It was a moment she hadn't dared to dream for.

He pulled back only enough to whisper her name like a prayer into her lips before the strength was gone, and he went limp in her arms.

The rest of the world was outside celebrating. Hanabi was on someone's shoulders and her prince trailed behind her, cheering and bragging of her awesome deeds to the people who were not free from the blight's fog in their minds. The whole kingdom rejoiced.

In that moment, no one remembered the Sugarplum and her Nutcracker.

The only one who heard her cries and sobs of anguish was a solitary mouse king who waited in the hallway outside, holding his hand over his heart as it broke for her.

* * *

 **One Year Later**

* * *

The group held their breath as the door rattled, catching on the warp in the doorjamb as it did nearly every time someone closed it all the way. Someone muttered something close to a curse before shoving it open and striding in, juggling the Starbucks drink and papers under her arm.

"You brats," Sakura huffed. She crossed over to her desk and dropped her papers onto the desk before setting her drink down too. "You think closing the door is going to delay me enough to keep you from seeing your stupid test scores?"

"But Haruno!" one of the boys groaned, melting in his seat. "My old man is going to kill me."

"Then I have one less student to worry about next quarter. Unfortunately he's one who's improved himself so much it'll impact my performance evaluation," Sakura joked, passing his scantron back with the grade at the top.

She moved to do the same with several other students and had only gotten through four before the first boy jumped out of his chair whooping for joy.

"I didn't fail!"

"Konahamaru, sit down!" Sakura snapped. The boy only jumped over his desk and grabbed her around the middle, dissolving into a sappy mess of tears and 'thank you's.

"You did the work yourself, don't thank me. It's an impartial grade…okay, this is ridiculous, someone get him off me. I'm not allowed to beat my own students."

A few other kids just laughed at her predicament while one or two actually got up to help.

The rest of class was full of its usual frustrations and rewards as well as a holiday movie before the final bell dismissed her last period for the day. Her sixth graders ran out like dogs free from their cages on a track, but Sakura wished them each a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays before they could slip out the door.

Her drink was empty so she threw it out and packed up the rest of her things. Some of the kids had given her cards and jars of coco mix, and honestly, she was a bit surprised by how many of them still made a card for her since this was only her first year teaching.

"Still think it's worth it?"

Sakura looked up and smiled at Anko, the gym teacher who had been extra helpful during the beginning of the school year. Anko had mentioned the other teachers taking bets on how long the newbie would last since Sakura had some of the lowest kids for her homeroom class.

"Absolutely," Sakura answered confidently. "Konahamaru actually passed his CBASS this time. He scored higher than a thirty."

"Thank someone for that. His grandfather was beginning to give up hope."

Sakura laughed and gathered her things, bidding each of the teachers she saw goodby before walking out for the last time before the new year. Her lesson plans were done and copies were neatly filed in her homeroom's classroom. She was ready for the new year, whatever it looked like.

"Hey."

Sakura turned at the sound of the voice and grinned. "Hey there, Hamburger!"

Hanabi flushed. "How many times do I have to tell you, that's not my name?!"

"Milkshake picking you up today?" Sakura asked, a coy smile in place. "Or someone _else_?"

Hanabi rolled her eyes at Sakura's teasing tone. "No. I'm heading out with a few friends for snacks to celebrate, but I'm spending the weekend at home with the folks. I'll visit while I'm there."

And by visit she meant go back to Sasuke's Mouse Kingdom, Mousolia. The offer to visit was open to Sakura as well, but she had already refused it several dozen times and didn't seem interested in changing her mind anytime soon. She had explained once that if she wanted to go back she could send herself back, but maybe Hanabi didn't believe Sakura.

"It's cold. Make sure you wear your scarf," Sakura said, tugging the same thick knit scarf she'd given to Hanabi a year ago free from the compartment inside. Hanabi snatched the scarf back and began to wrap herself up.

"I didn't forget and I'm not giving it back."

Sakura just laughed. "Stay safe then."

Hanabi grinned and crossed the parking lot the high school shared with one end of the elementary school. A group of teenagers waited in a sedan for her, but rolled out as soon as Hanabi climbed in.

Sakura stayed on the sidewalk, watching the parking lot filter out before turning and looking for her car. By the time she found it a light powder of snow had begun to drift down. It stopped a moment later, when she pulled out, but during her drive home the sky showed signs of snow to whole way back.

She made it back to her apartment and stopped in the laundry room to check in on Napoleon, the mouse who lived behind the machines, before going up to her studio apartment.

She passed the time baking and reading and watching holiday films before falling asleep. In the morning she cleaned and then dressed to go out shopping for only the most essential of essentials. She was almost out of milk again and she would need more than two eggs if she wanted breakfast tomorrow.

On her way to the 24/7 store, she caught sight of something in a nearby shop window. It was an advertisement for the nutcracker ballet, to be preformed by the junior ballet classes form her old gym. The names of the girls were listen in ultra fine print, but Hanabi wasn't on the list.

"Good for her," Sakura breathed.

"Sakura?"

She looked up and turned, surprised not by the sound of her name, but the voice of the person calling it.

He stood in front of her, on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets, watching her wearily. The snow and cold made the tip of his nose almost as red as his cheeks, but it was still the same Itachi. He smiled at her and inclined his head awkwardly.

"I finally found you," he said.

Sakura finally found her voice. "You-it-i-Itachi? What are you doing here?" Then she noticed what he was wearing. "And why do you look like-like a Wallstreet banker?"

He glanced down at the charcoal gray Giorgio Armani three piece suit under his camel overcoat. His tie was a brilliant scarlet, only a shade off from how bright she knew his eyes could be.

"I don't work on Wall Street, but I do have significant investments that are managed by myself and multiple banks. I've been living here for a number of months now."

Sakura swallowed. "How? No-not how. I mean, why? Why are you here when you have a kingdom to run?"

Itachi shrugged. "Sasuke and the council of elders manages that mostly on their own. I visit on the weekends if I need to, but I had more important matters to see to here in this world."

"Like?"

His cheeks turned a shade darker but he bowed his head and crossed the distance between them. "It's nearly Christmas and you're still alone, so forgive me if I'm still not wanted, but please let me invite you over."

"Over?" Sakura repeated slowly. "For like…a sleepover over?"

Itachi's face turned impossibly red. "Not," he breathed, voice pitching, "like that. It would be appropriate, of course. I have attendances at the manor and you'd be free to come and go as you please and-"

He stopped when she placed a finger on his lips. "Do you like cookies?"

"What?"

Sakura removed her finger, frowning at the sensation of having his lips move under it. "Sweets, cookies, candy, that sort of stuff, do you like it? I made a ton of cookies to pass out to the neighbors but most of them already took off for the holidays. You could come over to my place instead, maybe watch a movie, and help me polish off these cookies I have too much of." She took a half step back and smiled. "What do you think?"

Itachi nodded slowly. "If you'll have me."

Sakura took his hand, trading her quest for milk and eggs in for something better.

"Why not?"

* * *

AN: I'm sorry guys. I know someone is going to upset with me about this at least. (I did Sasori dirty again.) But at least eh epilogue is tacked on and you don't have to wait until after Christmas for it. It didn't seem right to leave it off.

Sakura ends up going back to her world and healing all the way through. She becomes a teacher, realizing she has a knack for kids after her adventure with Hanabi. Speaking of Hanabi, she's doing good, making tons of friends, and focusing on her future a lot more than Sakura did at her age without sacrificing her connection to Sasuke and his world. Itachi is super committed to pursuing Sakura regardless of where that might be. He tends to overthink things, and took a long time making himself 'successful' to impress her, not realizing she doesn't care about that stuff.

Sakura and Itachi have their happy ending. Sakura can still use magic to travel between worlds because she still loves Sasori and that wont change this time, but Itachi is her happy ever after.

Thank you guys and sorry for the heartburn.


End file.
